Seamless promotion redemption

ABSTRACT

Systems and related methods of providing seamless transactions, including payments and promotion redemptions, are discussed herein. Some embodiments may provide for a system including a communication beacon and one or more servers. The communication beacon may be configured to communicate with consumer devices via a direct wireless connection when the consumer devices are within a wireless direct communicable range of the communication beacon. The one or more servers may be configured to associate the communication with a merchant and receive consumer presence data from the communication beacon such that consumer presence at the merchant may be determined. In response, the one or more servers may be configured to perform a seamless transaction on behalf the consumer that allows the consumer to provide payments or redeem promotions, among other things, simply by self-identifying with the merchant while carrying the consumer device.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/248,676, titled “Communication Beacon Based Promotions forMobile Devices,” filed Apr. 9, 2014, which is incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate, generally, to providing promotionaloffers and redemptions to consumers based on communications withconsumer devices.

BACKGROUND

Consumers near commercial areas may traverse past many differentmerchants, some direct competitors or otherwise. Enticing consumers tostop at, consider, or enter a merchant shop can be an important aspectof generating business at a brick-and-mortar location. Furthermore,consumer merchant interactions may be improved to facilitate experiencesthat grow repeat customers. In this regard, among others, areas forimproving current systems have been identified. Through applied effort,ingenuity, and innovation, solutions to improve such systems have beenrealized and are described herein.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Systems, methods, and computer readable program code are provided tofacilitate interactions between merchants and consumers. Someembodiments may provide for a system including a communication beaconand one or more servers. The communication beacon may be configured tocommunicate with a consumer device via a direct wireless connection whenthe consumer device is within a wireless direct communicable range ofthe communication beacon. The one or more servers may be configured to:associate the communication beacon with a merchant; receive consumerpresence data from the communication beacon indicating that the consumerdevice and the communication beacon has formed the direct wirelessconnection; and in response receiving the consumer presence data:determine a redeemable promotion of a consumer associated with theconsumer device, the redeemable promotion being redeemable at themerchant; and provide an indication of the redeemable promotion to theconsumer device.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers may be further configuredto, subsequent to receiving the consumer presence data, provide anindication of the redeemable promotion to a merchant device associatedwith the merchant.

In some embodiments, the merchant device may include the communicationbeacon.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers may be further configuredto provide a merchant interface to the merchant device, the merchantinterface including the indication of the redeemable promotion. In someembodiments, the merchant interface may include an indication ofconsumer identifying data that identifies the consumer associated withthe consumer device

In some embodiments, the one or more servers may be further configuredto: provide to the merchant interface an indication of consumeridentifying data associated with one or more consumers with consumerdevices having direct wireless connections with the communicationbeacon, the one or more consumers including the consumer; receive aselection of consumer identifying data associated with the consumer; andin response to receiving the selection of the consumer identifying data,provide the indication of the redeemable promotion to the merchantinterface. In some embodiments, the indication of consumer identifyingdata associated with the consumer may include at least one of a consumername and a consumer image.

In some embodiments, the indication of the redeemable promotion mayinclude a redeem button. The one or more servers may be furtherconfigured to: receive an instruction to redeem the redeemable promotionfrom the merchant device based on a selection of the redeem button; andin response to receiving the instruction to redeem the redeemablepromotion, facilitate redemption of the redeemable promotion.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers configured to facilitatethe redemption of the redeemable promotion may include the one or moreservers being configured to facilitate the redemption without requiringa redeem instruction from the consumer device.

In some embodiments, the one or more servers configured to facilitatethe redemption of the redeemable promotion may include the one or moreservers being configured to at least one of: deduct a promotional valueof the redeemable promotion from a total cost of a transaction; anddisassociate the redeemable promotion with a consumer account of theconsumer.

Some embodiments may provide for a machine-implemented method. Themethod may include: associating, by circuitry, a communication beaconwith a merchant; receiving, by the circuitry, consumer presence datafrom the communication beacon indicating that a consumer device and thecommunication beacon has formed a direct wireless connection when theconsumer device is within a wireless direct communicable range of thecommunication beacon; and in response receiving the consumer presencedata, and by the circuitry: determining a redeemable promotion of aconsumer associated with the consumer device, the redeemable promotionbeing redeemable at the merchant; and providing an indication of theredeemable promotion to the consumer device.

In some embodiments, the method may further include, by the circuitryand subsequent to receiving the consumer presence data, providing anindication of the redeemable promotion to a merchant device associatedwith the merchant.

In some embodiments, the merchant device may include the communicationbeacon.

In some embodiments, the method may further include, by the circuitry,providing a merchant interface to the merchant device, the merchantinterface including the indication of the redeemable promotion. In someembodiments, the merchant interface may further include an indication ofconsumer identifying data that identifies the consumer associated withthe consumer device. In some embodiments, the method may furtherinclude, by the circuitry: providing to the merchant interface anindication of consumer identifying data associated with one or moreconsumers with consumer devices having direct wireless connections withthe communication beacon, the one or more consumers including theconsumer; receiving a selection of consumer identifying data associatedwith the consumer; and in response to receiving the selection of theconsumer identifying data, providing the indication of the redeemablepromotion to the merchant interface. In some embodiments, the indicationof consumer identifying data associated with the consumer may include atleast one of a consumer name and a consumer image.

In some embodiments, the indication of the redeemable promotion includesa redeem button. The method may further include: receiving aninstruction to redeem the redeemable promotion from the merchant devicebased on a selection of the redeem button; and in response to receivingthe instruction to redeem the redeemable promotion, facilitatingredemption of the redeemable promotion.

In some embodiments, facilitating the redemption of the redeemablepromotion may include facilitating the redemption without requiring aredeem instruction from the consumer device. In some embodiments,facilitating the redemption of the redeemable promotion includes atleast one of: deducting a promotional value of the redeemable promotionfrom a total cost of a transaction; and disassociating the redeemablepromotion with a consumer account of the consumer.

Other embodiments may include one or more machines, such as anapparatus, device, and/or system, configured to implement the methodsand/or other functionality discussed herein. For example, the machinemay include one or more processors and/or other machine componentsconfigured to implement the functionality discussed herein based oninstructions and/or other data stored in memory and/or othernon-transitory computer readable media.

These characteristics as well as additional features, functions, anddetails are described below. Similarly, corresponding and additionalembodiments are also described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Having thus described some embodiments in general terms, reference willnow be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarilydrawn to scale, and wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an example of a system in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 2 shows an example of a point-of-sale system in accordance withsome embodiments;

FIG. 3 shows an example of a merchant device in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 4 shows an example of a consumer device in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of example circuitry inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 6 shows an example of a method of associating a communicationbeacon with a merchant in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 7 shows an example of a method of communicating with a consumerdevice with a communication beacon in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 8 shows an example of a method of providing an outside-of-shoppromotion to a consumer in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 9 shows an example of a method of facilitating in-shop consumer andmerchant interactions in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 10 shows an example of a presence display in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 11 shows an example of a consumer profile in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 12 shows an example of a method of redeeming a promotion inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 13 shows an example of a redeemable promotion display in accordancewith some embodiments; and

FIG. 14 shows an example of consumer display in accordance with someembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments now will be described more fully hereinafter with referenceto the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments areshown. Indeed, embodiments of the invention may be implemented in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Likenumbers refer to like elements throughout.

As used herein, the terms “data,” “content,” “information” and similarterms may be used interchangeably to refer to data capable of beingcaptured, transmitted, received, displayed and/or stored in accordancewith various example embodiments. Thus, use of any such terms should notbe taken to limit the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Further, wherea computing device is described herein to receive data from anothercomputing device, it will be appreciated that the data may be receiveddirectly from the another computing device or may be received indirectlyvia one or more intermediary computing devices, such as, for example,one or more servers, relays, routers, network access points, basestations, and/or the like. Similarly, where a computing device isdescribed herein to send data to another computing device, it will beappreciated that the data may be sent directly to the another computingdevice or may be sent indirectly via one or more intermediary computingdevices, such as, for example, one or more servers, relays, routers,network access points, base stations, and/or the like.

Overview

Some embodiments may provide for a central system (e.g., one or moreservers) configured to provide a promotional and marketing service forone or more (e.g., multiple) merchants. Each merchant may be associatedwith a merchant shop (e.g., a brick-and-mortar retail location,restaurant, etc.). One or more communication beacons may bestrategically located at the merchant shop to detect the presence ofconsumer devices (e.g., and thereby consumers carrying such consumerdevices), including consumer devices that traverse past the merchantshop and consumer devices that enter the merchant shop. The merchant mayfurther be associated with a merchant device (e.g., which may alsoinclude point-of-sale functionality, among other things), which in someembodiments may be the same device as the communication beacon.

The merchant device and/or communication beacon may be configured tocommunicate with the system for various functionalities. For example, acommunication beacon may be located on a merchant shop window, wall,door, etc. and configured to receive wallet identifying data (and/orother data that identifies a particular consumer) from consumer devicesas they pass near an entrance of the merchant shop. The communicationbeacon maybe configured to form wireless direct connections with theconsumer devices. Based on programmatically processing the signalsbetween the communication beacon and consumer devices, informationregarding consumer behavior near or at a merchant shop may be trackedfor the merchant. For example, information about a particular consumer(e.g., identified via the wallet identifying data) may be provided tothe merchant device to facilitate consumer assistance such as profileinformation, preferences, visitation data, spending amounts, among otherthings. The merchant device may further receive consumer analytical dataaggregated based on tracking multiple consumers, such as the number ofconsumers that pass by the merchant shop, the number of consumers thatenter the merchant shop, average duration or money spent per visit, etc.

Some embodiments may allow the merchant to communicate to consumers viaconsumer devices, such as for attracting consumers outside of themerchant shop (e.g., to enter) or within the merchant shop (e.g., topurchase a particular item). For example, when the consumer device isdetermined to be near but outside of the merchant shop, anoutside-of-shop impression indicating one or more outside-of-shoppromotions may be provided to the consumer device. In some embodiments,the outside-of-shop promotion may be defined by the merchant and pushedout (e.g., in real-time) to consumer devices based on presence detectionvia the communication beacon. In some embodiments, when the consumerdevice is determined to be inside of the merchant shop, an in-shopimpression indicating one or more in-shop promotions may additionally oralternatively provided to the consumer device. Various otherfunctionalities may also be triggered based on consumer device location,such as providing a menu to the consumer device, consumer deviceordering, point-of-sale with the merchant device, promotion purchase andredemption. etc.

A “promotion,” as used herein, may include, but is not limited to, anytype of offered, presented or otherwise indicated reward, discount,coupon, credit, deal, incentive, discount, media or the like that isindicative of a promotional value or the like that upon purchase oracceptance results in the issuance of an instrument that may be usedtoward at least a portion of the purchase of particular goods, servicesand/or experiences (or “item(s)” as used herein) defined by thepromotion. For example, a promotion may specify that for a $25 acceptedvalue paid by the consumer, the consumer may receive $50 toward apurchase of running shoes at a particular merchant.

A promotion may be defined by and/or be associated with one or more“promotion parameters.” Example promotion parameters may include anaccepted value (e.g., a cost to purchase the promotion), a promotionalvalue (e.g., the value of the resultant instrument beyond the acceptedvalue), and/or the associated item or items of the promotion. In someembodiments, a promotion may further be associated with a promotionavailability value indicating a number of instances of the promotionthat is available to consumers (e.g., in total, within a predeterminedperiod of time such as daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, etc.).

A “merchant” or “provider” may include, but is not limited to, amerchant, provider of a promotion, business owner, consigner,shopkeeper, tradesperson, vender, operator, entrepreneur, agent, dealer,organization or the like that is in the business of a providing a good,service or experience to a consumer, facilitating the provision of agood, service or experience to a consumer and/or otherwise operating inthe stream of commerce.

In some embodiments, one or more “impressions” of a promotion may beprovided to consumers or consumer devices. An “impression,” as usedherein, may include a communication, a display, or other perceivedindication, such as a flyer, print media, e-mail, text message,application alert, mobile applications, other type of electronicinterface or distribution channel and/or the like, of one or morepromotions. For example, and using the aforementioned running shoepromotion, an impression may include an e-mail communication sent toconsumer devices of consumers that indicates the availability of the $25for $50 toward running shoes promotion.

An impression may be provided to consumer devices in any suitable way,including via a network such as the Internet. In some embodiments,in-shop and outside-of-shop impressions may be provided to a consumerdevice based on presence detection and/or location determination of theconsumer device with one or more communication beacons located near amerchant shop. As used herein, an outside-of-shop impression may referto an impression of an outside-of-shop promotion that may be provided toa consumer device while the consumer device is determined to be within acommunicable range of a communication beacon and outside of a merchantshop. In that sense, an outside-of-shop promotion may refer to apromotion that is offered to a consumer while the consumer is near butoutside of a merchant shop. An in-shop impression may refer to animpression of an in-shop promotion that may be provided to a consumerdevice while the consumer device is determined to be within acommunicable range of a communication beacon and inside of a merchantshop. As discussed in greater detail herein, the promotion parameters ofan outside-of-shop impression and in-shop impression may be varied tofacilitate various consumer behaviors.

Some embodiments may provide for seamless transactions, which mayinclude seamless promotion redemptions and/or payment. For example,consumers may be allowed to provide login data or otherwise associated aconsumer device with a consumer account at a central system and/orserver. Based on communications between a consumer device andcommunication beacon, among other things, the server may determine thelocation of the consumer as being at a particular merchant. The servermay then determine redeemable promotions of the consumer at the merchantand provide an indication of one or more redeemable promotions to theconsumer. Furthermore, the server may then send the consumer'sinformation, including data indicating the redeemable promotion to amerchant device associated with the merchant. The data sent to theconsumer device and merchant device may include a message, phase, code,etc. that can be used by the consumer to identify the instance ofconsumer data that has been provided to the merchant device (e.g., ofmany potential instances created for each consumer device that is at themerchant shop). For example, the message to consumer device may includea direction for the consumer to tell a merchant the consumer's name,which may correspond with a message to the merchant including theconsumer's name that is displayed on the merchant device. As such, themerchant is able to correlate a live consumer (e.g., at dine-inrestaurant, checkout, bar, etc.) to seamlessly assist the consumer in asecure transaction where the consumer can be identified andauthenticated by simply carrying the consumer device to the merchantshop. In addition or alternative to redeemable promotions, payment datamay also be associated with the consumer account. In that sense, thesystem is capable of completing a transaction between the consumer andmerchant that is seamless, requiring no consumer inputs to the server,presentation of an instrument or voucher for redemption, or conventionalforms of payment.

Exemplary System Architecture

FIG. 1 shows an example system 100 in accordance with some embodiments.System 100 may include promotion and marketing system 102 (or “system102”), network 104, consumer device 106, and point-of-sale system 108.System 102 may be communicably connected with consumer device 106 andpoint-of-sale system 108 via network 104.

Point-of-sale system 108 may include merchant device 114 andcommunication beacon 116. Point-of-sale system 108 may be associatedwith a merchant and may be located at a merchant shop. A “merchant,” asused herein may include, but is not limited to, a promotion provider,business owner, consigner, shopkeeper, tradesperson, vender, operator,entrepreneur, agent, dealer, organization or the like that is in thebusiness of a providing a good, service or experience to a consumer,facilitating the provision of a good, service or experience to aconsumer and/or otherwise operating in the stream of commerce. Forexample, a merchant may take the form of a running company that sellsattire that is generally used by a person who runs or participates inathletic activities. Although a single merchant device 114 andcommunication beacon 116 are shown, point-of-sale system 108 may includeany number of merchant devices and/or communication beacons. In someembodiments, system 100 may further include multiple point-of-salesystems 108 that may be associated with various other merchants and/ormerchant shops. In some embodiments, merchant device 114 may beconfigured to provide point-of-sale (POS) functionality for themerchant. Furthermore, merchant device 114 may be a stationary and/ormobile device. In some embodiments, merchant device 114 and/orcommunication beacon 116 may include circuitry configured toprogrammatically perform some or all of the methods discussed herein,such as methods 500-900 shown in FIGS. 5-9, respectively.

In some embodiments, system 100 may further include promotion andmarketing system 102, which may further include server 110 and database112. In some embodiments, system 102 may be configured to provide apromotion and marketing service that is accessible via one or moreconsumer devices and is operable to provide example promotion and/ormarketing services on behalf of one or more merchants and/or providersthat are offering one or more instruments that are redeemable for goods,services, experiences and/or the like. The promotion and marketingservice maybe further be configured to illustrate or otherwise informone or more consumers of the availability of one or more instruments inthe form of one or more impressions. In some examples, the promotion andmarketing service may also take the form of a redemption authority, apayment processor, a rewards provider, an entity in a financial network,a promoter, an agent and/or the like. As such, the service is, in someexample embodiments, configured to present one or more promotions viaone or more impressions, accept payments for promotions from consumers,issue instruments upon acceptance of an offer, participate inredemption, generate rewards, provide a point of sale device or service,issue payments to providers and/or or otherwise participate in theexchange of goods, services or experiences for currency, value and/orthe like.

Server 110 may include circuitry, networked processors, etc. configuredto perform some or all of the server-based processes described hereinand may be any suitable network server and/or other type of processingdevice. For example, server 110 may be configured to provide consumeraccounts (e.g., including associated payment accounts of consumers thatmay be used with point-of-sale system 108), provide impressions or otheradvertising messages to consumer devices 108, and/or facilitate theoffer, purchase, and/or redemption (e.g., at the merchant shop) ofpromotions. In some embodiments, system 102 may function as a “cloud”with respect to the consumer device 106 and/or point-of-sale system 108.In that sense, server 110 may include several servers (e.g., one or moreservers) performing interconnected and/or distributed functions. Toavoid unnecessarily overcomplicating the disclosure, server 110 is shownand described herein as a single server.

In some embodiments, system 102 may be configured to receive promotiondata indicating a promotion for goods and/or services and/or one or moreparameters of the promotion (e.g., target audience, timing, purchasevalue, promotional value, residual value, etc.). System 102 may thengenerate and/or provide one or more impressions for the promotion toconsumer device 102. In some embodiments, the system may receive in-shopand/or outside-of-shop promotion data from a merchant device thatdefines a particular in-shop and/or outside-of-shop promotion. Based onconsumer presence data received at a communication beacon, the servermay be configured to provide a suitable in-shop or outside-of-shopimpression to the consumer device, each of which may respectivelyinclude one or more in-shop promotions and one or more outside-of-shoppromotions. In some embodiments, an in-shop promotion andoutside-of-shop promotion may be different from promotions that areprovided to consumer devices without consumer device presence detection(e.g., via the Internet such as email, text, mobile application, etc.).Here, specifically tailored messages may be defined for consumers nearor within a merchant shop.

Database 112 may be any suitable network storage device. For example,database 112 may be configured to store promotion data (e.g., attributesof promotion, promotion parameters, etc.), consumer data (e.g.,attributes of the consumer such as profile information, preferences,purchase history, consumer behavior, payment accounts, among otherthings), and/or purchase transaction data (e.g., payment accountinformation, credit card information, payment information, billingaddress, payment account information, among other things). As such,database 112 may include, for example, one or more database systems,backend data servers, network databases, cloud storage devices, etc. Toavoid unnecessarily overcomplicating the disclosure, database 112 isshown and described herein as a single database.

Network 104 may include one or more wired and/or wireless communicationnetworks including, for example, a wired or wireless local area network(LAN), personal area network (PAN), metropolitan area network (MAN),wide area network (WAN), or the like, as well as any hardware, softwareand/or firmware for implementing the one or more networks (such as,e.g., network routers, switches, hubs, etc.). For example, network 104may include a cellular telephone, mobile broadband, long term evolution(LTE), GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA, IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, WiFi,dial-up, and/or WiMax network. Furthermore, network 104 may include apublic network, such as the Internet, a private network, such as anintranet, or combinations thereof, and may utilize a variety ofnetworking protocols now available or later developed including, but notlimited to TCP/IP based networking protocols.

Consumer device 106 may be associated with a consumer, such as aconsumer with a consumer account provided by system 102. Although asingle consumer device 106 is shown, system 100 may include any numberof consumer devices that may be associated with various other consumers.Consumer device 106 may be a mobile device and/or a stationary device(e.g., home computer). For example, consumer device 106 may be a mobiledevice such as a cellular telephone (including smartphones and/or othertypes of mobile telephones), laptop, tablet, electronic reader, e-bookdevice, media device, and/or the like.

Connection 118 may include a direct wireless connection between one ormore communication beacons 116 and consumer device 106. In someembodiments, based on consumer presence data received from acommunication beacon 116 indicating that consumer device 106 wasdetected to be within a wireless direct communicable range ofcommunication beacon 116, server 110 may be configured to communicatewith merchant device 114 and consumer device 106 via network 104 toprovide the various functionalities discussed herein. For example,merchant device 114 and/or communication beacon 116 may be configured tobroadcast a beacon identifier via a wireless personal area network(PAN).

In some embodiments, communication beacon 116 may be configured toutilize a Bluetooth standard for the wireless communication such thatBluetooth-enabled consumer devices 106 may wirelessly connect withcommunication beacon 116 upon coming within communicable range ofcommunication beacon 116. The communicable range of communication beaconmay be configured to be of a range that is suitable for low power (e.g.,less than 2.5 mW), high resolution distance determination within amerchant shop and/or a portion of the merchant shop. For example, thecommunicable range of the communication beacon using a Bluetoothstandard can be within 1-10 meters, or any other suitable short range(e.g., 2, 3, 4 . . . 10, 11, etc. meters). In some embodiments, thecommunicable range may be configured based on the dimensions, layout,and/or other needs of a merchant shop. In some embodiments, consumerdevice 106 may be configured to communicate with point-of-sale system108 via connection 118 and point-of-sale system 108, such as whenconsumer device 106 is within a communicable range of the wireless PANand/or has no access to network 104.

FIG. 2 shows an example point-of-sale system 200 in accordance with someembodiments. Point-of-sale system 200 may be deployed at a merchant shop202, which in some examples, may be a dine-in restaurant. Point-of-salesystem 200 may include merchant device 114 and communication beacon 116.In some embodiments, communication beacon 116 may include an adhesiveand/or other attachment such that communication beacon 116 may beaffixed to a window and/or other surface of merchant shop 202. Forexample, communication beacon 116 may be packaged with a sticker thatmay be placed on an inside surface of a front-facing window, near anentrance of the merchant shop.

In some embodiments, a plurality of communication beacons 204, 206, etc.may be each located at locations of interest at, near or within themerchant shop. Here, for example, each communication beacon may belocated at and/or near a dine-in location, such as a table 208, therebyforming a mesh of signal coverage within the dine-in locations. Thecommunication beacons may be each configured to broadcast a beaconidentifier via a wireless PAN, such as wireless PAN 208 forcommunication beacon 116. The “beacon identifier,” as used herein, mayrefer to any type of data that may be used to uniquely identify acommunication beacon. In some embodiments, a beacon identifier mayinclude a unique identification number (i.e., a unique ID, a serialnumber, etc.), or may be based at least partially on, a random orpseudorandom code.

In some embodiments, communication beacon 116, merchant device 114and/or system 102 (e.g., one or more servers 110) may be configured todetermine a location of a consumer based on communication betweencommunication beacon 116 and consumer device 106. For example, consumerdevice 106 may be determined to be outside of merchant shop 202 and inresponse, may be sent an outside-of-shop impression indicating one ormore outside-of-shop promotions. In another example, consumer device 106may be determined to be inside of merchant shop 202 and in response, maybe sent an in-shop impression indicating one or more in-shop promotions.More generally, various messages, promotions, advertisements, etc. maybe provided to a consumer device based on the location of the consumerdevice as detected via the one or more communication beacons.

FIG. 3 shows a schematic block diagram of an example merchant device 114in accordance with some embodiments. Merchant device 114 may beconfigured to perform various functionalities defined by modules202-224. In some embodiments, each module may comprise circuitryconfigured to perform the functionality discussed herein. In variousembodiments, one or more of modules 202-224 may be included in amerchant device, may be separated into smaller modules, and/or may becombined within a more comprehensive module.

Merchant device 114 may include one or more of in-shop promotion module302, outside-of-shop promotion module 304, point-of-sale module 305,presence module 308, consumer profile module 310, reports module 312,promotion redemption module 314, payment account module 316, servermessage module 318, consumer dashboard module 320, online ordering,appointments, deals, and rewards module 322, and ratings and reviewsmodule 324.

In-shop promotion module 302 may be configured to allow a merchant todefine in-shop promotions. For example, in-shop promotion module 302 maybe configured to generate in-shop promotion data defining an in-shoppromotion and to provide the in-shop promotion data to the server.Outside-of-shop promotion module 304 may be configured to allow amerchant to define outside-of-shop promotions. Outside-of-shop promotionmodule 302 may be configured to generate out-of-shop promotion datadefining an out-of-shop promotion and to provide the out-of-shoppromotion data to the server. In some embodiments, in-shop promotionmodule 302 and/or outside-of-shop promotion module 304 may be configuredto provide promotion interfaces that allow the merchant to definepromotions using templates allow the merchant to define variouspromotion parameters including one or more of an item, promotionalvalue, accepted value, availability date and/or time, among otherthings.

Point-of-sale module 306 may be configured to provide point-of-salefunctionality such as associating items with a tab or shopping cart,determining total costs for items, tip amounts, processing transactions,printing tickets and/or kitchen displays, among other things.

Presence module 308 may be configured to determine the presence ofconsumer devices that are within a communicable range of a communicationbeacon and/or merchant device. For example, merchant device 114 may beconfigured to communicate with server 110. Additionally oralternatively, merchant device 114 may communicate directly with acommunication beacon, such as via a wired or wireless connection.Presence module 308 may be configured to record visitation data relatedto consumer location and presence. For example, based on wirelesslypolling consumer devices with one or more communication beacons, thelocation and duration of the location of consumer devices may betracked. Consumer profile module 310 may be configured to provideconsumer data to a display of merchant device 114. For example,subsequent and/or in response to a consumer device being detected bypresence module 308, consumer profile module 310 may be configured toprovide a display of a consumer profile of the consumer. In someembodiments, the consumer profile may include details of the consumersuch as name, image, interests, preferences, redeemable promotions,stored payment status, transaction data (e.g., recent purchases),contact information, favorite items (e.g., most purchased), allergies,visitation data, among other things.

In some embodiments, the detection of consumer presence may be indicatedon the merchant device to alert the merchant. FIG. 10 shows an exampleof a presence display 1000 in accordance with some embodiments. Presencedisplay 1000 may include point-of-sale interface 1002, configured toprovide point-of-sale functionality. For example, items may be added totab 1004 based on a merchant selecting an item category button 1006,which may allow the merchant to select items form the menu to add to tab1004. Presence display 1000 may further include consumer indication1008. For example, consumer indication 1008 may be a popup, display,indication, window, and/or other alert within presence display 1000indicating consumer information (e.g., name, image, etc.) and presenceof the consumer. Where the consumer name is displayed, for example, themerchant may be able to greet the consumer by name and/or otherwiseserve/interact with the consumer in accordance with consumer datadisplayed on the merchant device 114

Returning to FIG. 3, reports module 312 may be configured to generatereports of the merchant. The reports may be associated with any of thefunctionality discussed herein. For example, the merchant may be allowedto generate reports directed to sales, taxes, expenses, time keeping,among other things. As such, reports module 312 may be configured togenerate reports for various parameters of interest.

Promotion redemption module 314 may be configured to facilitatepromotion redemption. For example promotion redemption module 314 may beconfigured to allow a consumer to redeem an in-shop promotion and/orout-of-shop promotion. In some embodiments, promotion redemption module314 may receive an instrument, code, key, identifier, barcode, and/orother redemption data from a consumer device that identifies aparticular promotion and indicates consumer intent to redeem thepromotion. In response, promotion redemption module 314 may beconfigured to provide the redemption data to server 110 for processingthe redemption. If the server approves the redemption (e.g., bycomparing the redemption data with redeemable promotions of theconsumer), the server may provide an indication that the promotion canbe redeemed to promotion redemption module 314. In some embodiments,promotion redemption module 314 may be configured to apply a redeemedpromotion to a tab, shopping cart, transaction, etc. For example, thepromotional value of the promotion may be deducted from the total cost.

Payment account module 316 may be configured to allow merchant device114 to take payments by consumers using their consumer device. Forexample, system 102 may store payment data associated with a paymentmethod (e.g., credit card, debit card, checking account, financialaccount, payment account, etc.) in association with a consumer account.The payment data, which may be stored with encryption or otherwise, maybe subsequently used to provide payments to merchants. For example,payment account module 316 may be configured to send consumer approvaldata (e.g., from a consumer device or otherwise generated in response toan indication of consumer consent) indicating consumer approval of apayment. The consumer approval data may not include any payment data.Instead, payment account module 316 may be configured to provide theconsumer approval data to system 102, which may then facilitate atransaction based on the consumer approval data and the stored paymentdata. With reference to FIG. 10, in some embodiments, the merchant maycreate and/or access a tab associated with a consumer via a selection ofa consumer indication 1008.

Message module 318 may be configured to generate merchant messages forconsumers. The messages may be provided to the server, which may thenprovide the messages to consumers based on various criteria. Themerchant messages may be sent to consumer device via any suitablecommunication channel, such as email, text, webpage, mobile applicationalert, etc. In some embodiments, different merchant messages may beassociated with different locations of a merchant shop (e.g., outside,inside, at a particular aisle, at an order counter, etc.). Additionallyor alternatively, the merchant may be allowed to specify the times thata message is sent, the associated location of the merchant shop (if any,e.g., messages may be sent via network 104 regardless of location of theconsumer device), the number of instances of the message, a targetedconsumer demographic, characteristic, or segment, among other things.

In some embodiments, message module 318 may be configured to providepreconfigured templates that expedite the merchant creation of messagesto various consumer demographics or segments. For example, based onhistorical visitation data, consumers may be categorized as newconsumers (e.g., first visit to the merchant shop), lapsed or returning(e.g., visited before but not since a predefined time, such as 4 weeks),regular (e.g., at least a certain number of visits within apredetermined time—such as at least 2 times in last 3 weeks, most recentvisit not longer than a predetermined time, etc.), and/or VIP (e.g.,regular consumer, exceeded a particular spending threshold, etc.). Eachcategory of consumers may be associated with a different template.Server message module 318 may allow the merchant to tailor a particularmessage for each template and consumer demographic or segmentrepresented by each template. For example, a new customer may receive a“welcome” promotion or message, a lapsed customer may receive a “we missyou” promotion or message, a regular consumer may receive a regularreward or message, and a VIP consumer may receive a VIP (e.g.,increased) reward or special message. Templates may be associated withvarious other demographics. For example, a book merchant may utilizeseparate templates for children and adults to provide age-targetedmessaging for upcoming new release books.

Consumer dashboard module 320 may be configured to allow a merchant tointeract with consumer data provided by system 102. For example,consumer data associated with each consumer detected by thecommunication beacon may be provided to a display of merchant device 114by consumer dashboard module 320. Consumer dashboard module 320 may beconfigured to generate a listing of detected consumers. Additionally oralternatively, the listing may be categorized or filtered based onlocation, such as in-shop or outside-of-shop consumers. Based onmerchant selection of a consumer, consumer dashboard module 320 may beconfigured to provide a consumer profile. In some embodiments, aconsumer profile may additionally or alternatively be provided to themerchant in response to the merchant selecting a consumer indication1008 (e.g., as shown in FIG. 10) or the like.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a consumer profile 1100 in accordance withsome embodiments. Consumer profile 1100 may include consumer informationabout a consumer, such as a consumer that has been detected by acommunication beacon. Consumer profile 1100 may include basicinformation 1102 (e.g., name, image, email address, contact information,etc.), visitation status 1104 (e.g., indicating that the consumer is aregular customer), and visitation data 1106. Visitation data 1106, forexample, may include spending indicator 1108 (e.g., shown as a ratingout of five “$,” but may alternatively or additionally be represented inother forms including monetary amounts, average spent, total spent,etc.), a visit count, average spent, total spent, and average tip amountof the consumer.

Consumer profile 1100 may include redeemable promotion indicator 1110indicating redeemable promotions associated with the consumer orconsumer account. Each redeemable promotion may be associated with aredeem button 1112, which may allow the merchant to initiate redemptionof the promotion on behalf of the consumer. Consumer profile 1100 mayinclude further include additional consumer information. For example,insights 1114 and notes 1116 may include consumer data that is relevantfor facilitating consumer service that is be determined based ontracking consumer purchases and other behavior (e.g., at the merchantshop and/or at other merchant shops) and/or provided by the consumer(e.g., allergy information). Most purchased indication 1118 may includea listing of menu items that are most commonly purchased by the consumer(e.g., at the merchant shop and/or at other merchant shops). In someembodiments, each item within consumer profile 1100 may be associatedwith an add item button 1120. The merchant may add an item to a tabassociated with the consumer and/or consumer account by selecting an additem button 1120 within consumer profile 1100.

In some embodiments, consumer dashboard module 320 may be configured toallow a merchant to interact with historical consumer data. For example,historical consumer data associated with each consumer detected by thecommunication beacon may be provided to a display of merchant device 114by consumer dashboard module 320. The historical consumer data mayinclude the same or similar components as the (e.g., live) consumer datadiscussed above. For example, a listing of each consumer of thehistorical consumer data may be provided by consumer dashboard module320. Furthermore, a consumer profile associated with each consumer ofthe historical consumer data may be accessed and viewed by the merchant.

In some embodiments, the historical consumer data may include aggregatedconsumer data of a plurality of (e.g., all) consumers. For example, thevisitation data discussed above for a single consumer may be aggregatedfor the plurality of consumers. As such, the merchant may be able totrack consumer behavior such as number of visits, average spent, totalspent, average tip, walk-bys, number of walk-bys that enter the merchantshop, number of walk-bys that do not enter, etc.

In some embodiments, the consumer data may be further classified basedon consumer characteristics or filters. For example, consumer dataand/or historical consumer data may be associated with consumercharacteristics of the consumer. The characteristics of the consumer maybe determined based on profile data and/or other consumer dataindicating demographics (e.g., age, gender, interests, group membership,hobbies, purchase history, browsing history, etc.) of the consumer.Consumer dashboard module 320 may be configured to allow the merchant tofilter or select demographics and/or other characteristics of interest.In response, a listing of consumers and/or associated consumerdata/profiles that match (or best match) the selected characteristicsmay be provided to the merchant. In some embodiments, consumer data mayadditionally or alternatively be tracked and filtered based onvisitation date, last visit date, number of visits, total spendingamounts, alphabetical sort, visitation status (e.g., new, regular, VIP,lapsed), among other things. In some embodiments, consumer dashboardmodule 320 may be configured to provide search functionality (e.g.,text-based) for consumer profile lookup based on the consumer data(e.g., name, demographic, visitation status, visitation date, totalspending, etc.).

Returning to FIG. 3, online ordering, appointments, deals, and rewardsmodule 322 may be configured to provide various other merchant-relatedfunctionalities. For example, module 322 may allow the merchant toreceive order data (e.g., via network 104 and/or the Internet)indicating items to be added to an order or tab. Module 322 may alsoallow a merchant to schedule appointments with consumers, providediscounts, and rewards (e.g., reward tracking, spending tracking,customer loyalty points, gifts, etc.). The various functionalities ofmodule 322, as well as the other modules discussed herein, may becombined into one or more individual modules.

Ratings and reviews module 324 may be configured to provide the merchantwith ratings and reviews of items, service, the merchant facility,and/or other aspects of the merchant and consumer interaction. In someembodiments, ratings and review module 324 may be configured to providea consumer review interface to the consumer device. For example, inresponse to determining that a consumer device is no longer detected bya communication beacon, ratings and review module 324 may be configuredto determine an item purchased and/or otherwise provided to theconsumer. Based on the item or otherwise, module 324 may be configuredto provide an applicable review. In some embodiments, ratings and reviewmodule 324 may alternatively or additionally be configured to receivereview and/or rating data generated by consumers from the server. Inthat sense, system 102 may be configured to provide merchants withconsumer feedback, which may be published to the merchant webpage (orother location) or kept confidential with the merchant.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic block diagram of an example consumer device 108in accordance with some embodiments. Consumer device 108 may beconfigured to perform various functionalities defined by modules402-412. In some embodiments, each module may comprise circuitryconfigured to perform the functionality discussed herein. In variousembodiments, one or more of modules 402-412 may be included in aconsumer device, may be separated into smaller modules, and/or may becombined within a more comprehensive module.

Consumer device 108 may include one or more purchase in-store promotionmodule 402, purchase outside-of-shop 402, profile module 406, orderingand appointment module 408, notification, rewards, ratings, and reviewmodule 410, and transaction notification module 412.

Purchase in-shop promotion module 402 may be configured to allow aconsumer to purchase an in-shop promotion. For example, purchase in-shoppromotion module 402 may be configured to receive an in-shop impressionfrom the server and provide a display of the in-shop impression to adisplay of consumer device 108. Via the in-shop impression, the consumermay be allowed to purchase an in-shop promotion. Purchaseoutside-of-shop promotion module 404 may be configured to allow theconsumer to purchase an outside-of-shop promotion. For example, purchaseoutside-of-shop promotion module 404 may be configured to receive anoutside-of-shop impression from the server and provide a display of theoutside-of-shop impression to a display of consumer device 108.Similarly, via the outside-of-shop impression or otherwise, the consumermay be allowed to purchase an in-shop promotion. For example, theconsumer may be configured to generate and sent promotion purchase datato the server based on consumer input provided by consumer device 108.

Profile module 406 may be configured to allow the consumer to create,view, modify, and/or otherwise manage the consumer profile associatedwith the consumer. With reference to FIG. 11, for example, the consumermay be allowed to change basic information 1102 such as name, image,contact information, etc. The consumer may also be allowed to changeother profile information such as demographic information, interests,allergy information, hobbies, preferences, etc. Furthermore, in someembodiments, the consumer may be allowed to view visitation data for oneor more merchants and/or set sharing permissions of the consumer datafor merchants.

Ordering and appointment module 408 may be configured to allow consumerdevice 108 to make online orders or reservations with a merchant. Forexample, in some embodiments, the server may be configure to facilitatethe online ordering, reservations, or appointments based on receivingdata from consumer device 108 via network 104. Based on the receiveddata, the server may be configured to generate an online order,reservation, or schedule as suitable and to provide the applicableinformation to merchant device 114, such as for processing by onlineordering, appointments, deals, and rewards module 322 of merchant device114.

Notification, rewards, ratings, and review module 410 may be configuredfor a variety of consumer uses, each of which may be separate modules ordistributed among one or more modules. Module 410 may be configured toprovide notifications or messages to the consumer, some or all of whichmay be generated by message module 318 of merchant device 114. Module410 may also provide for awards tracking for consumers. For example,each merchant or reward program in which the consumer is participatingor eligible may be provided to the consumer. In some embodiments, module410 may be further configured to allow the consumer to generate and/orprovide review data for review or rating of an item and/or merchant. Forexample, the review data may be provided to the server. The server mayprocess the review data and may provide consumer reviews to consumersand/or the merchant.

Transaction notification module 412 may be configured to providenotifications to the consumer for successful transactions. A transactionmay include the purchase of an item, a purchase of a promotion, and/orredemption of a promotion. In some embodiments, in response tosuccessfully facilitating a transaction, the server may be configured toprovide an indication to transaction notification module 412.Transaction notification module 412 may be configured to receive theindication and to provide a display of the indication to the consumer.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic block diagram of example circuitry 500, some orall of which may be included in point-of-sale system 108, merchantdevice 114, communication beacon 116, system 102, server 110, database112, and/or consumer device 106. In accordance with some exampleembodiments, circuitry 500 may include various means, such as one ormore processors 502, memories 504, communications modules 506, and/orinput/output modules 508.

As referred to herein, “module” includes hardware, software and/orfirmware configured to perform one or more particular functions. In thisregard, the means of circuitry 500 as described herein may be embodiedas, for example, circuitry, hardware elements (e.g., a suitablyprogrammed processor, combinational logic circuit, integrated circuit,and/or the like), a computer program product comprisingcomputer-readable program instructions stored on a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium (e.g., memory 504) that is executable by asuitably configured processing device (e.g., processor 502), or somecombination thereof.

Processor 502 may, for example, be embodied as various means includingone or more microprocessors with accompanying digital signalprocessor(s), one or more processor(s) without an accompanying digitalsignal processor, one or more coprocessors, one or more multi-coreprocessors, one or more controllers, processing circuitry, one or morecomputers, various other processing elements including integratedcircuits such as, for example, an ASIC (application specific integratedcircuit) or FPGA (field programmable gate array), or some combinationthereof. Accordingly, although illustrated in FIG. 5 as a singleprocessor, in some embodiments, processor 502 may comprise a pluralityof processing means. The plurality of processing means may be embodiedon a single computing device or may be distributed across a plurality ofcomputing devices collectively configured to function as circuitry 500.The plurality of processing means may be in operative communication witheach other and may be collectively configured to perform one or morefunctionalities of circuitry 400 as described herein. In an exampleembodiment, processor 502 may be configured to execute instructionsstored in memory 504 or otherwise accessible to processor 502. Theseinstructions, when executed by processor 502, may cause circuitry 500 toperform one or more of the functionalities described herein.

Whether configured by hardware, firmware/software methods, or by acombination thereof, processor 502 may comprise an entity capable ofperforming operations according to embodiments of the present inventionwhile configured accordingly. Thus, for example, when processor 502 isembodied as an ASIC, FPGA or the like, processor 502 may comprisespecifically configured hardware for conducting one or more operationsdescribed herein. As another example, when processor 502 may be embodiedas an executor of instructions, such as may be stored in memory 504, theinstructions may specifically configure processor 502 to perform one ormore algorithms, methods or operations described herein. For example,processor 502 may be configured to execute operating systemapplications, firmware applications, media playback applications, mediaediting applications, among other things.

Memory 504 may comprise, for example, volatile memory, non-volatilememory, or some combination thereof. Although illustrated in FIG. 5 as asingle memory, memory 504 may comprise a plurality of memory components.The plurality of memory components may be embodied on a single computingcomponent or distributed across a plurality of computing components. Invarious embodiments, memory 504 may comprise, for example, a hard disk,random access memory, cache memory, flash memory, a compact disc readonly memory (CD-ROM), solid state memory, digital versatile disc readonly memory (DVD-ROM), an optical disc, circuitry configured to storeinformation, integrated circuitry, chemical/biological memory, paper, orsome combination thereof. Memory 504 may be configured to storeinformation, data, applications, instructions, or the like for enablingcircuitry 500 to carry out various functions in accordance with exampleembodiments discussed herein. For example, in at least some embodiments,memory 504 may be configured to buffer input data for processing byprocessor 502. Additionally or alternatively, in at least someembodiments, memory 504 may be configured to store program instructionsfor execution by processor 502 and/or data for processing by processor502. Memory 504 may store information in the form of static and/ordynamic information. This stored information may be stored and/or usedby circuitry 500 during the course of performing its functionalities.

Communications module 506 may be embodied as any component or meansembodied in circuitry, hardware, a computer program product comprisingcomputer readable program instructions stored on a computer readablemedium (e.g., memory 504) and executed by a processing device (e.g.,processor 502), or a combination thereof that is configured to receiveand/or transmit data from/to another device, such as, for example, asecond circuitry 500 and/or the like. In some embodiments,communications module 506 (like other components discussed herein) canbe at least partially embodied as or otherwise controlled by processor502. In this regard, communications module 506 may be in communicationwith processor 502, such as via a bus. Communications module 506 mayinclude, for example, an antenna, a transmitter, a receiver, atransceiver, network interface card and/or supporting hardware and/orfirmware/software for enabling communications. Communications module 506may be configured to receive and/or transmit any data that may be storedby memory 504 using any protocol that may be used for communications.Communications module 506 may additionally and/or alternatively be incommunication with the memory 504, input/output module 408 and/or anyother component of circuitry 500, such as via a bus. Communicationsmodule 506 may be configured to use one or more communications protocolssuch as, for example, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi (e.g., a 802.11 protocol, etc.),radio frequency systems (e.g., 900 MHz, 1.4 GHz, and 5.6 GHzcommunication systems), infrared, mobile broadband, GSM, GSM plus EDGE,CDMA, quadband, and other cellular protocols, VOIP, and/or any othersuitable protocol. In some embodiments, such as when circuitry 500 isembodied as a communication beacon, a root beacon, and/or a consumerdevice communication beacon, communications module 406 may be configuredto generate a wireless PAN for communication with other devices withincommunicable range of the wireless PAN.

Input/output module 508 may be in communication with processor 502 toreceive an indication of an input and/or to provide an audible, visual,mechanical, or other output. In that sense, input/output module 508 mayinclude means for performing analog-to-digital and/or digital-to-analogdata conversions. Input/output module 508 may include support, forexample, for a display, touchscreen, keyboard, button, click wheel,mouse, joystick, an image capturing device, microphone, speaker,biometric scanner, and/or other input/output mechanisms. In embodimentswhere circuitry 500 may be implemented as a server or database, aspectsof input/output module 508 may be reduced as compared to embodimentswhere circuitry 500 may be implemented as an end-user machine or othertype of device designed for complex user interactions. In someembodiments (like other components discussed herein), input/outputmodule 508 may even be eliminated from circuitry 500. Alternatively,such as in embodiments wherein circuitry 500 is embodied as a server ordatabase, at least some aspects of input/output module 508 may beembodied on an apparatus used by a user that is in communication withcircuitry 500. Input/output module 508 may be in communication withmemory 504, communications module 506, and/or any other component(s),such as via a bus. Although more than one input/output module and/orother component can be included in circuitry 500, only one is shown inFIG. 5 to avoid overcomplicating the disclosure (e.g., like the othercomponents discussed herein).

In some embodiments, one or more of modules 302-324 or 402-412 may alsoor instead be included and configured to perform the functionalitydiscussed herein. In some embodiments, some or all of the functionalityof modules 302-324 or 402-412 may be performed by processor 402. In thisregard, the example processes and algorithms discussed herein can beperformed by at least one processor 402. For example, non-transitorycomputer readable storage media can be configured to store firmware, oneor more application programs, and/or other software, which includeinstructions and other computer-readable program code portions that canbe executed to control processors of the components of system 500 toimplement various operations, including the examples shown above. Assuch, a series of computer-readable program code portions may beembodied in one or more computer program products and can be used, witha device, server, database, and/or other programmable apparatus, toproduce the machine-implemented processes discussed herein.

Any such computer program instructions and/or other type of code may beloaded onto a computer, processor or other programmable apparatus'scircuitry to produce a machine, such that the computer, processor otherprogrammable circuitry that executes the code may be the means forimplementing various functions, including those described herein. Insome embodiments, one or more external systems (such as a remote cloudcomputing and/or data storage system) may also be leveraged to provideat least some of the functionality discussed herein.

As described above and as will be appreciated based on this disclosure,various embodiments may be implemented as methods, mediums, devices,servers, databases, systems, and the like. Accordingly, embodiments maycomprise various means including entirely of hardware or any combinationof software and hardware. Furthermore, embodiments may take the form ofa computer program product on at least one non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium having computer-readable programinstructions (e.g., computer software) embodied in the storage medium.Any suitable computer-readable storage medium may be utilized includingnon-transitory hard disks, CD/DVD-ROMs, flash memory, optical storagedevices, quantum storage devices, chemical storage devices, biologicalstorage devices, magnetic storage devices, etc.

Embodiments have been described above with reference to block diagramsof components, such as functional modules, system components andcircuitry. Below is a discussion of an example process flowchartsdescribing functionality that may be implemented by one or morecomponents discussed above. Each block of the block diagrams and processflowcharts, and combinations of blocks diagrams and process flowcharts,respectively, can be implemented by various means including computerprogram instructions. These computer program instructions may be loadedonto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, such as processor 402, toproduce a machine, such that the computer program product includes theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmable dataprocessing apparatus to create a means for implementing the functionsspecified in the flowchart block or block diagrams.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in anon-transitory computer-readable storage device (e.g., memory 504) thatcan direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus tofunction in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored inthe computer-readable storage device produce an article of manufactureincluding computer-readable instructions for implementing the functiondiscussed herein. The computer program instructions may also be loadedonto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or otherprogrammable apparatus to produce a computer-implemented process suchthat the instructions that execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions discussed herein.

Accordingly, blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrationssupport combinations of means for performing the specified functions,combinations of steps for performing the specified functions and programinstruction means for performing the specified functions. It will alsobe understood that each block of the block diagrams and processflowcharts, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and processflowcharts, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-basedcomputer systems that perform the specified functions or steps, orcombinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions

Communication Beacon Based Promotions

FIG. 6 shows an example of a method 600 of associating a communicationbeacon with a merchant in accordance with some embodiments. For example,a central system (e.g., promotion and marketing system 102) may beconfigured to provide a promotion and marketing service to one or moremerchants. Each merchant may be associated with one or morecommunication beacons that may be strategically placed at variouslocations of a merchant shop. When the central system receives consumerpresence data from an associated communication beacon indicating that aconsumer device is within a direct wireless communicable range of thecommunication beacon, the central system may then send a suitablemessage of the merchant based on an association between the merchant andthe communication beacon.

Method 600, as well as the other methods discussed herein, is describedas being performed by system 100 (e.g., one or more servers 110,communication beacon 116, etc.). However, other suitable devices,apparatuses, machines, etc. may be used. Method 600 may begin at 602 andproceed to 604, where a server may be configured to generate a merchantwebpage associated with a merchant. The merchant webpage may be theofficial webpage of the merchant or may be a different webpage providedby system 110 on behalf of the merchant. The merchant webpage mayinclude information about the merchant such as menu information, iteminformation, location, hours of operation, reviews, ratings, among otherthings.

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to provide a merchantwebpage for multiple merchants based on identifying merchant data. Forexample, the server may be configured to (e.g., programmatically)identify a merchant and create a merchant webpage based on availablemerchant information (e.g., received from a merchant device, retrievedfrom database 112, accessed from the Internet, official merchantwebpages, third party webpages (e.g., merchant review webpages, indexes,directories, etc.), and/or any other source). The merchant webpage mayinclude merchant information about the merchant such as the itemsoffered, images (e.g., of the merchant shop and/or items offered),videos, audio, prices, ratings, reviews, among other things.

At 604, the server may be configured to receive merchant provided datafrom a merchant device. For example, the merchant provided data mayinclude additional merchant information regarding the merchant such asmerchant location data indicating a location of the merchant andbusiness hour data indicating business hours of the merchant and/ormerchant location. The merchant provided data may further include itemdata (e.g., indicating products, services, experiences offered, prices,availability, etc.), item image data (e.g., pictures and/or other mediademonstrating an item), and/or merchant shop image data (e.g., picturesand/or other media showing the merchant shop).

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to programmaticallygenerate the merchant webpage and publish the merchant webpage (e.g., onthe Internet), which may be subsequently “claimed” by the merchant. Themerchant may be allowed to at least partially control the content of themerchant webpage once claimed. For example, the merchant webpage mayinclude a merchant interface that allows the merchant to claim the page(e.g., via selection of a claim page button). In response to theselection of the claim page button, the server may be configured toprovide a second interface for receiving some or all of the merchantprovided data.

At 606, the server may be configured to update the merchant webpagebased on the merchant provided data. For example, the merchant webpagemay be updated to provide an indication of the location of the merchant,business hours, items offered, image(s) or other media of the items, andimage(s) of the merchant shop. The server may be further configured toprovide the merchant webpage to consumers, such as via publication onthe Internet.

At 608, the server may be configured to associate a communication beaconwith the merchant in response to receiving at least a portion of themerchant provided data from the merchant device. For example, thecommunication beacon may be associated with a beacon identifier thatuniquely identifies the communication beacon. The server may be furtherconfigured to associate the beacon identifier with the merchant. In someembodiments, the communication may be provided to the merchant and/orlocated at the merchant shop for consumer device presence detection.

The merchant provided data (e.g., at 604) may indicate intent of themerchant to receive a communication beacon and/or enhanced servicesprovided by system 102. In some embodiments, merchant provided dataindicating basic merchant information may be sufficient for claiming themerchant webpage, such as the merchant location data and the businesshour data. To receive a communication beacon and/or other enhancedservices, however, the server may be configured to request data usefulin facilitating the enhanced services such as item data, image data,and/or merchant shop image data.

In some embodiments, the merchant provided data may include structuredmenu data. For example, the merchant interface may include entries forreceiving the structured menu data that may be provided via a user inputdevice of the merchant device. The entries for a menu item for example,may include an entry for the name, description, price, availability,item image data, etc. Based on the structured menu data, system 102 maybe configured to programmatically generate a menu and provide the menuto consumer devices via the webpage and/or based on consumer devicelocation as discussed in further detail below.

In some embodiments, system 102 may be configured to utilize themerchant provided data to facilitate providing impressions of promotionsto consumers, promotion redemption, point-of-sale related functionality,consumer data collection and processing, and/or among other things.However, the merchant may not be required to offer or agree to offer anypromotions to claim the merchant webpage and/or receive thecommunication beacon. As discussed in further detail below, thecommunication beacon may be used to collect data regarding consumerbehavior and/or allow the system to provide merchant originated messagesto consumers at or near the merchant shop of any content. Someembodiments may additionally or alternatively allow the merchant todefine an out-of-shop promotion or in-shop promotion that may beprovided to consumers based more precise consumer location determinationwith the communication beacons. Method 600 may then proceed to 610 andend.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a method 700 of communicating with a consumerdevice with a communication beacon in accordance with some embodiments.For example, a plurality of merchants may each be associated with one ormore communication beacons, thereby forming a network or mesh ofcommunication beacon coverage. System 102 may be configured to provideservices to each of the merchants based on the consumer presence and/orlocation detection.

Method 700 may begin at 702 and proceed to 704, where the server may beconfigured to associate a communication beacon with a merchant. Theassociation may be performed as described above in method 600 and/orusing any other suitable technique. The communication beacon may beplaced at the merchant shop (e.g., at or near a front window orentrance) for consumer presence detection.

At 706, the communication beacon may be configured to communicate with aconsumer device via a direct wireless connection when the consumerdevice is within a wireless direct communicable range of thecommunication beacon. In some embodiments, the communication beacon maybe configured to broadcast a beacon identifier via a wireless personalarea network (PAN). For example, one or more communication beacons maybe located at a merchant shop as shown in FIG. 2.

In some embodiments, the communication beacon may be configured topassively emit the beacon identifier. In some embodiments, thecommunication beacon may be configured to broadcast the beaconidentifier using a Bluetooth protocol. For example, protocols such asBluetooth low energy (LE) may be particularly suitable when thecommunication beacon is battery-powered. Other example wireless PANprotocols that may alternatively or additionally be used may includeIrDA, Wireless USB, Z-Wave, ZigBee, Body Area Network, among otherthings. Where a merchant shop includes multiple communication beacons,each of the communication beacons may be configured to broadcast adifferent beacon identifier that uniquely identifies the beacon. In someembodiments, the beacon identifier may be changed, updated, or otherwiseconfigured by the merchant device.

In some embodiments, a point-of-sale system at a merchant shop mayinclude multiple communications beacons that are each located atdifferent locations of interest and/or each configured to broadcastdifferent beacon identifiers. Here, the communication beacons may form amesh of signal coverage within the locations of interest.

At 708, the server may be configured to receive consumer presence datafrom the communication beacon indicating that a consumer device and thecommunication beacon has formed the direct wireless connection. Forexample and with reference to FIG. 2, a consumer may be carrying theconsumer device 106 (e.g., a mobile device such as a smartphone) mayenter wireless direct communicable range of the communication beaconconsumer device 106 and/or wireless PAN 208, such as by the consumerwalking by or entering the merchant shop. In some embodiments, theconnection may be formed without the consumer device and/or the merchantdevice having active Internet access at the time of the connection(e.g., an active connection to the one or more public servers). Forexample, the connection may be a wireless connection over a personalarea network (e.g., via connection 110 shown in FIG. 1).

In some embodiments, the consumer device may be configured to provide aconsumer application. The consumer application may be configured todetermine whether wireless communications of the applicable protocol hasbeen enabled. For example, where Bluetooth is used, the application mayinclude a Bluetooth syncing library that detects whether Bluetoothcapability is enabled. If the protocol is enabled, the consumer devicemay begin announcing a presence detection service to other devices, suchas the communication beacon. For example, a process and/or applicationmay execute on and configure the consumer device to broadcast (e.g., viaBluetooth) one or more suitable messages. In some embodiments, theconsumer device may be configured to provide a user interface thatallows the consumer to enable or disable the announcing of the presencedetection service. In some embodiments, the presence detection servicemay include one or more background processes that may run while theconsumer device is locked, in a low-power mode, and/or executing otherapplications in the foreground.

The communication beacon may begin discovering the presence detectionservice. For example, a process and/or application may execute on themerchant device that configures the merchant device to discover otherdevices, such as the consumer device, that are currently announcing thetransaction session service.

In some embodiments, the consumer device may be configured to discoverthe presence detection service while the communication beacon may beconfigured to announce the presence detection service. Additionallyand/or alternatively, both devices may be configured to be capable ofannouncing and discovering the presence detection service. For example,both devices may discover compatible devices and/or be discovered bycompatible devices.

Next, a connection between the communication beacon and the consumerdevice may be created. The connection may be a direct wirelessconnection (e.g., including no intervening devices, switches, routers,networks, etc.), such as a personal area network (PAN) connection. Insome embodiments, the discovery range may be set by the merchant and/orthe consumer device and/or by the range at which the devices can belocated from each other and still be able to communicate (such as whenBluetooth and/or other direct connect wireless technology is used). Insome embodiments, one or more communication beacons may be used forpresence detection of one or more consumer device. Additional detailsregarding consumer device beacons, applicable in some embodiments, arediscussed in U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/883,846, titled“Systems and Methods For Programmatically Grouping Consumers,” filedSep. 27, 2013, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entiretyand for all purposes.

In response to detecting the presence of a consumer device, thecommunication beacon may be configured to generate and/or otherwiseprovide consumer data indicating that the consumer device and thecommunication beacon has formed the direct wireless connection to theserver. The server may be configured to receive the consumer presencedata from the communication beacon, such as via network 104.

In some embodiments, the consumer presence data transmitted between thecommunication beacon and the server may include data that identifies theconsumer and/or the merchant. For example, the consumer presence datamay include consumer identifying data. For example, the consumeridentifying data may include a consumer account name or identifier, aconsumer name, user name, etc.

In some embodiments, the consumer presence data may include secured dataconfigured to prevent the consumer information, payment information,and/or other sensitive information from being taken by unauthorizedwireless devices. For example, the communication beacon may beconfigured to receive wallet identifying data from the consumer devicevia the direct wireless connection. The wallet identifying data may begenerated by the system and may be based on a random or pseudorandomcode, key, token, or the like, that is meaningless to unauthorizeddevices. The server may be configured to provide the wallet identifyingdata to the consumer device for the purposes of consumer device and/orconsumer identification with communication beacons. Based on receivingthe wallet identifying data from the communication beacon, the servermay be configured to identify a consumer and/or consumer account basedon the wallet identifying data. The server may be further configured todetermine consumer data associated with the consumer, which may includeconsumer identifying data. The server may be further configured toprovide some or all of the consumer data to a merchant device, such asmerchant device 114 that is associated with the same merchant and/ormerchant shop as communication beacon 116. In that sense, the consumeridentifying and/or other sensitive information is not passed through thedirect wireless connection.

When a beacon identifier is used to identify a merchant, the server maybe configured to receive an indication that a consumer device receivedand/or otherwise detected the beacon identifier from the communicationbeacon. In some embodiments, the a device may be located within the samemerchant shop as the communication beacon, as shown in FIG. 2 formerchant device 202. The consumer device may be configured to receivethe beacon identifier being broadcast by the communication beacon whenwithin a direct wireless communicable range of the communication beacon.In some embodiments, consumer device may be configured to use acompatible communication protocol as the communication beacon, such asthe Bluetooth version 4.0 with low energy (LE) technology. In someembodiments, the consumer device may be configured to (e.g., viaexecuting an application in the background of an operating system)detect the presence of the nearby communication beacon. Here, theconsumer device may be configured to utilize the Bluetooth LE protocol,among other things, to achieve low power communication beacon discovery.

In some embodiments, the consumer device may be further configured toprovide the consumer presence data to the system, such as via anotherdevice(s) and/or network(s) (e.g., the communication beacon and thewireless PAN of the communication beacon, network 104, the Internet,among other things). As such, server may be alternatively oradditionally configured to receive the consumer presence data from theconsumer device.

At 710, the server may be configured to determine merchant informationassociated with the merchant. The merchant information may include anyof the information associated with the merchant discussed herein,including promotion-related and/or merchant provided data. The servermay be configured to identify the merchant based on the consumerpresence data being received from a particular communication beacon. Theconsumer presence data and/or other data transmitted between thecommunication beacon and the server may include merchant identifyingdata that identifies the merchant and/or the beacon identifier (e.g.,which may be associated with the merchant and/or merchant identifier bythe system). Additionally or alternatively, the consumer presence datamay include the beacon identifier, which may be used by the server toidentify the merchant. The server may be configured to determine themerchant information based on the merchant identifying data. Forexample, the server may be configured to query a database (e.g.,database 112) including merchant information associated with a pluralityof merchants based on the merchant identifying. Each of the plurality ofmerchants and/or their merchant information may be associated withdifferent merchant identifying, which may be received by the server inresponse to the query.

At 712, the server may be configured to provide the merchant informationto the consumer device. In some embodiments, at least a portion of themerchant provided data may be provided to the consumer device as themerchant information. The merchant information may be provided inresponse to receiving the consumer presence data indicating that theconsumer device and the communication beacon has formed the directwireless connection. In some embodiments, the server may be configuredto communicate with the consumer device via network 104. Alternativelyor additionally, the server may communicate with the consumer device viaa communication beacon. For example, the communication beacon maycommunicate wirelessly with the consumer device via connection 18 andthe server and communication beacon may communicate via network 104and/or merchant device 104.

In some embodiments, different merchant information may be provided tothe consumer device based on location of the consumer device asdetermined via the communication beacons. As discussed in greater detailbelow with respect to method 800 and FIG. 8 and method 900 and FIG. 9,the server may be configured to determine that the consumer device isnear but outside of the merchant shop and in response, provide anout-of-shop impression indicating one or more out-of-shop promotions tothe consumer device. In another example, the server may be configured todetermine that the consumer device has entered the merchant shop and inresponse, may be configured to provide an in-shop impression indicatingone or more in-shop promotions to the consumer device. Furthermore, insome embodiments, other enhanced features for facilitating consumer andmerchant interactions may be provided when the consumer device isdetermined to be inside the merchant shop. For example, seating,reservation, menu display and/or menu ordering interfaces may beprovided to the consumer when the merchant is a dine-in restaurant.

In general, various messages may be defined for different locations ator near a merchant shop and may be provided to a consumer device basedon the consumer device being determined as being at an associatedlocation. In some embodiments, the messages may include in-shop and/orout-of-shop promotions that are configured to be provided to consumerswhile the consumers are at or near the merchant shop. These promotionsmay provide incentives for consumers to visit a merchant. Furthermore,consumers may be motivated to activate and/or enable the presencedetection service on their consumer devices to receive the in-shopand/or outside-of-shop promotions. As such, the system is able tocollect consumer data (e.g., visitation data) for merchants while alsodriving consumer demand.

At 714, the server may be configured to determine consumer dataassociated with the consumer. The consumer data may include consumerinformation such as consumer account and/or profile information. In someembodiments, a consumer may be associated (e.g., subsequent to aregistration) with a consumer account. The consumer account may befurther associated with the consumer data. For example, the consumerdata may include profile information, consumer name, consumer image,interests, preferences, redeemable promotions, stored payment status,transaction data (e.g., recent purchases), contact information, favoriteitems (e.g., most purchased), allergies, among other things.

In some embodiments, the consumer data may include data tracked based onconsumer presence data received from one or more communication beaconsover time. For example, the consumer data may include visitation data(e.g., first visit date, number of visits, average spent, total spent,average tip amount, visit frequency, visit time, etc.), visitationstatus (e.g., new, regular returning, VIP, etc.). The visit time maydefine a length of time that the consumer device is detected (e.g., viapolling with the communication beacon) as being in the merchant shop(e.g., a running total for a current visit and/or a historical average).The visit frequency may define a frequency of consumer visits to amerchant shop associated with the merchant (e.g., per week, month, year,etc.). The visitation data may further define a number of consumerwalk-bys and/or a number of consumer walk-bys without entering themerchant shop.

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to generate theconsumer data based on tracking interactions between consumers andmultiple merchants. For example, the visitation data may be determinedbased on the consumer presence data indicating the presence and/orlocation of the consumer devices (e.g., over time) at multiple merchantseach associated with a different communication beacon and/orpoint-of-sale system 108. The server may be configured to share,aggregate, and/or otherwise generate the visitation data of the consumerfrom the multiple communication beacons.

At 716, the server may be configured to provide the consumer dataassociated with the consumer to the merchant device. For example, server110 may be configured to provide the consumer data via network 104 tomerchant device 114. As discussed above, in some embodiments, theconsumer data may include a consumer profile, such as consumer profile1100 shown in FIG. 11. In that sense, method 700 may be performed toprovide programmatic or (at least partially) automated look up ofconsumer profiles without requiring that a merchant provide a name orother search criteria. Virtually any of the consumer data discussedherein may be provided to the merchant device including data thatidentifies the consumer and/or data that facilitates consumer service.In some embodiments, the consumer data may include a consumer profileincluding visitation data generated by communication beacons, such asconsumer profile 1100 shown in FIG. 11. Method 700 may then proceed to718 and end.

FIG. 8 shows an example of a method 800 of providing an outside-of-shoppromotion to a consumer in accordance with some embodiments. Method 800may be performed to provide messages to consumers that are walking by,outside of, or otherwise near but have not entered the merchant shop.For example, the merchant shop may be located in a commercial area,shopping mall, etc. with several merchants, even some merchants that maybe offering competing or substitute items. The messages may includeadvertising or other promotional content that may be designed to enticea consumer to enter the merchant shop, purchase an out-of-shoppromotion, browse or purchase items, etc. In some embodiments, themerchant may be allowed to define out-of-shop promotions that may beoffered to consumer (e.g., on a schedule or real-time basis) that arenear (e.g., within the communicable range of a wireless directconnection to the communication) and outside of the merchant shop.

Method 800 may begin at 802 and proceed to 804, where the server may beconfigured to receive outside-of-shop promotion data defining anoutside-of-shop promotion from a merchant device associated with amerchant. For example, subsequent to the communication beacon beingprovided to and/or otherwise associated with the merchant, the servermay be configured to provide a promotion interface to the merchantdevice associated with the merchant for providing the outside-of-shoppromotion data. Additionally or alternatively, the merchant device mayinclude outside-of-shop promotion module 304 configured to provide thepromotion interface and/or otherwise generate the outside-of-shoppromotion data.

The outside-of-shop promotion data may define and/or include promotionparameters of the outside-of-shop promotion. As discussed above, examplepromotion parameters may include an accepted value (e.g., a cost topurchase the promotion), a promotional value (e.g., the value of theresultant instrument beyond the accepted value), and/or the associateditem or items of the promotion. The promotion parameters may defineand/or include a promotion availability value indicating a number ofinstances of the promotion that is available to consumers, a promotionavailability time (e.g., when an impression indicating the promotionshould be provided to consumer devices), and/or a redemption time (e.g.,start time, end time, etc. of promotion redemption). The promotionparameters may additionally or alternatively define triggers or criteriafor providing the outside-of-shop promotion. For example, the promotionparameter may define whether the promotion is an outside-of-shoppromotion or an in-shop promotion. In another example, the promotionparameter may define a particular location and/or communication beaconat which consumer device presence is detected for receiving animpression of the promotion.

In some embodiments, the promotion interface may include one or moretemplates. For example, a template may include a field or form forreceiving each portion of the promotion parameters and in the compatibleformat. In some embodiments, the server may be configured toprogrammatically determine promotion parameters or recommended promotionparameters (e.g., a predefined accepted value, promotional value, and/ordiscount between the accepted and promotional value). Here, thepromotion interface may allow the merchant to change a predetermined orrecommended promotion parameter.

In some embodiments, a template may be defined for each promotion typethat is associated with a different predefined location and may includedifferent requirements or fields of promotion parameters. For example,outside-of-shop promotions may be defined with an outside-of-shoptemplate that facilitates merchant entry of the outside-of-shoppromotion data. In another example, in-shop promotions may be definedwith an in-shop template that facilitates merchant entry of the in-shoppromotion data.

At 806, the server may be configured to generate the outside-of-shoppromotion based on the outside-of-shop promotion data. The server may beconfigured to generate the outside-of-shop promotion by associating theoutside-of-shop promotion data received from the merchant device. Insome embodiments, the server may be further configured to store theoutside-of-shop promotion for subsequent use, such as within a promotiondatabase (e.g., database 112).

At 808, the server may be configured to generate an outside-of-shopimpression indicating the outside-of-shop promotion. An outside-of-shopimpression, as used herein, refers to an impression that may be providedto a consumer device while the consumer device is within thecommunicable range of the communication beacon without being inside ofand/or having recently entered the merchant shop. The outside-of-shopimpression may be provided to the consumer device via network 104 usingany suitable communication channel such as email, text message, consumerdevice application alert, webpage, merchant webpage, among other things.The outside-of-shop impression may include an indication of theoutside-of-shop promotion including various promotion parameters (e.g.,item, accepted value, promotional value, etc.) and/or a consumerinterface for viewing, purchasing, and/or otherwise accepting theoutside-of-shop promotion.

In some embodiments, the outside-of-shop impression may be generatedand/or provided to the consumer device based on the outside-of-shoppromotion data received from the merchant device (e.g., at 804). Forexample, the outside-of-shop promotion data may indicate a merchantintent to push the outside-of-shop promotion to consumers as soon aspossible (e.g., during a downtime for the merchant). The server may beconfigured to generate and/or provide the outside-of-shop impression inresponse to receiving the outside-of-shop promotion data. In anotherexample, the outside-of-shop promotion data may define one or morescheduled times to generate and/or provide the outside-of-shopimpression. The server may be configured to generate and/or provide theoutside-of-shop impression at a scheduled time. In yet another example,the server may be configured to additionally or alternatively generateand/or provide the outside-of-shop impression for a particular consumerbased on matching the one or more promotion parameters to consumer data(e.g., interests, preferences, browsing history, purchase history,promotion purchase and/or browsing history, etc.).

At 810, the server may be configured to determine, based at least inpart on consumer presence data, that the consumer device is within thecommunicable range of the communication beacon without being inside ofthe merchant shop of the merchant. With reference to FIG. 2, forexample, communication beacon 116 may be located at or near a window orentrance of merchant shop 202. Upon consumer device 106 enteringcommunicable range of wireless PAN 208, server may receive consumerpresence data from communication beacon 116 as discussed above.

In some embodiments, the communication beacon and/or server may beconfigured to determine that the consumer device is outside of and/orhas not entered the merchant shop. Various suitable techniques forlocation determination may be used. For example, in some embodiments,multiple communication beacons may be located at a merchant shop asshown by communication beacons 116, 204 and 206 in FIG. 2. The servermay be configured to determine consumer device location based onconsumer presence data received from the multiple communication beacons.Each communication beacon may be configured to communicate with consumerdevice 106 as discussed herein. Based on the strength of the wirelesssignals between consumer device 106 and the communication beacons, thelocation of the consumer device (e.g., being outside, inside, or at aparticular region of the merchant) may be determined such as based on atriangulation.

Additionally or alternatively, one or more communication beacons and/orthe server may be configured to determine that the consumer device thatthe consumer device has entered the merchant shop (or not) based ontiming of the direct wireless connection between the communicationbeacon and the consumer device. For example, a communication beacon maypoll the consumer device for presence at predetermined times. An entrythreshold time (e.g., 1, 2, 5, 10, etc. minutes) may be defined in whichthe consumer device may be considered to have entered the merchant shopif the direct wireless connection between the consumer device andcommunication beacon is maintained within the entry threshold time.Here, consumer devices that are merely passing by the merchant shop maybe separated from those that enter the merchant shop for the entrythreshold time. Conversely, consumers and/or consumer devices that aredetected for a duration that fails to exceed the entry threshold timemay be determined as outside of and/or having not entered the merchantshop.

In another example, the server communication beacon and/or server may beadditionally or alternatively configured to determine that the consumerdevice that the consumer device has entered the merchant shop (or not)based on characteristic signal differences of the merchant shop. Forexample, communication beacon 116 that is placed at or on the interiorside of a merchant shop wall, window, door, or the like, may receive aweaker signal for communication beacons outside of the merchant shop,followed by a stronger signal when the consumer device enters themerchant shop. In various embodiments, one or more of the locationdetermination techniques with communication beacons may be used (e.g.,as is suitable for a particular merchant shop design or layout).

At 812, the server may be configured to provide the outside-of-shopimpression of the outside-of-shop promotion to the consumer device. Theoutside-of-shop impression may be provided by server 110 to consumerdevice 106 via network 104. In another example, consumer device 106 maycommunicate with server 110 via point-of-sale system 108 (e.g., viacommunication beacon 116 and/or merchant device 104), which may beadvantageous for merchant shops with poor mobile broadband connectivity(e.g., for communications between server 110 and consumer device 106 vianetwork 104).

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to provide theoutside-of-shop impression to the consumer device based on variousconditions. For example, the server may be configured to, prior toproviding the outside-of-shop impression, determine that theoutside-of-shop impression and/or outside-of-shop promotion has not beenprovided to the consumer within a predetermined time. The predeterminedtime may be set to a day, week, month, etc. and may define the frequencyat which an outside-of-shop promotion can be provided to the consumerdevice (e.g., regardless of the number of times the consumer walks bythe merchant shop within the predetermined time). In another example,the outside-of-shop impression and/or outside-of-shop promotion may notbe sent to the consumer device within a predetermined time subsequent toan item purchase, a predetermined time subsequent to detecting consumerpresence as being inside the merchant shop (and/or providing an in-shopimpression), and/or a predetermined time subsequent to purchase of anoutside-of-shop and/or in-shop promotion, among other things.

Similar to the outside-of-shop impression being provided to the consumerdevice when the consumer device is detected as being outside of themerchant shop, other data or messages generated by the merchant may beprovided to the consumer device based on location. For example, at aretail shop, a promotion, discount, and/or information associated with aparticular item or category of item may be provided to the consumerdevice based on the consumer device being detected as being at an aisle,display, or kiosk associated with the item or category of item. Method800 may then proceed to 814 and end.

FIG. 9 shows an example of a method 900 of facilitating in-shop consumerand merchant interactions in accordance with some embodiments. Method900 may be performed to provide messages to consumers that have enteredthe merchant shop and/or to assist in the commercial interaction betweenthe consumer and merchant.

Method 900 may begin at 902 and proceed to 904, where the server may beconfigured to receive in-shop promotion data defining an in-shoppromotion from a merchant device associated with a merchant. An in-shoppromotion, as used herein, refers to a promotion that may be offered toa consumer when the consumer is determined to be inside of the merchantshop based on consumer device presence detection with one or morecommunication beacons. The server may be configured to provide apromotion interface to the merchant device for merchant entry of thein-shop promotion data. Additionally or alternatively, the merchantdevice may include in-shop promotion module 302 configured to providethe promotion interface and/or otherwise generate the in-shop promotiondata.

The in-shop promotion data may define and/or include promotionparameters of the in-shop promotion, such as an accepted value, apromotional value, one or more associated items, a promotionavailability value, a promotion availability time, a redemption time,one or more triggers or criteria for providing the in-shop promotion,and/or among other things. In some embodiments, the discount value(e.g., defined as an absolute or percentage difference between thepromotional value and the accepted value) may be defined as being higherfor outside-of-shop promotions than in-shop promotions. Here, consumersthat would otherwise not enter the merchant shop may be enticed with alarger discount. In another example, an in-shop promotion may be definedby a different item than the outside-of-shop promotion. For example,outside-of-shop promotions may be associated with higher demand items tofurther entice consumers to enter the merchant shop.

At 906, the server may be configured to generate the in-shop promotionbased on the in-shop promotion data. At 908, the server may beconfigured to generate an in-shop impression indicating the in-shoppromotion. An in-shop impression, as used herein, refers to animpression that may be provided to a consumer device while the consumerdevice is within the communicable range of the communication beacon andinside of the merchant shop. At least some of the discussion at 806-808of method 800 regarding outside-of-shop impressions and outside-of-shoppromotions may be applicable at 906 and 908.

At 910, the server may be configured to determine, based at least inpart on consumer presence data, that the consumer device is within thecommunicable range of the communication beacon and inside of themerchant shop of the merchant. The discussion regarding consumer devicelocation determination at 810 of method 800 may be applicable at 910.

At 912, the server may be configured to provide the in-shop impressionof the in-shop promotion to the consumer device. The in-shop impressionmay be provided by server 110 to consumer device 106 via network 104. Inanother example, consumer device 106 may communicate with server 110 viapoint-of-sale system 108 (e.g., via communication beacon 116 and/ormerchant device 104). The discussion at 812 of method 800 may beapplicable at 912.

At 914, the server may be configured to facilitate point-of-salefunctionality. In alternative or addition to providing an in-shopimpression in response to determining that the consumer device hasentered the merchant shop, the server may be configured to provide themerchant webpage and/or at least a portion of the merchant informationdiscussed above in connection with method 600 to the consumer device tofacilitate consumer and merchant interactions. In some embodiments, inresponse to determining that the consumer device has entered themerchant shop, the consumer device (e.g., via a mobile application) maybe configured to display message from the merchant. For example, themessage may include a greeting from a “virtual hostess.”

In some embodiments, based on merchant provided data includingstructured menu data, the server may be configured to provide and/orgenerate a menu and provide the menu to the consumer device in responseto determining that the consumer device has entered the merchant shop.Each menu item of the menu may include an indication of a rating valuefor the item determined based on consumer reviews from previousconsumers. In some embodiments, the menu may be provided as part of auser interface that allows the consumer to generate order dataindicating selected items for purchase. The consumer device may beconfigured to provide the order data to the merchant device and/orserver to complete a transaction for the selected items. In someembodiments, facilitating point-of-sale functionality may includegenerating a tab (or shopping cart), associating items with the tab,payments (e.g. via the consumer device or otherwise), tipping,reservations, online ordering, seating, among other things.

In some embodiments, facilitating point-of-sale functionality mayinclude processing or facilitating the processing of a payment. Thepayment may be provided via any suitable method including cash, cash,check, credit card, debit card, etc. In some embodiments, payment may beprovided using stored payment data of the consumer. In that sense, whena consumer is detected and identified as discussed herein, the consumermay be allowed to perform a “seamless payment” (e.g., without requiringthe consumer to provide a form of payment to the merchant).

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to facilitate thepurchase of an out-of-shop promotion and/or an in-shop promotion. Forexample, the out-of-shop impression and/or in-shop impression mayinclude user interfaces configured to respectively allow the consumer topurchase the out-of-shop promotion and/or an in-shop promotion via theconsumer device. In some embodiments, a purchased out-of-shop promotionand/or an in-shop promotion may be associated with a consumer account ofthe consumer for subsequent redemption. Furthermore, the server may beconfigured to provide the consumer device with an instrument forredemption of the purchased out-of-shop promotion and/or in-shoppromotion. The instrument include, but is not limited to, any type ofgift card, tender, electronic certificate, medium of exchange, voucher,or the like that embodies the terms of the promotion from which theinstrument resulted and may be used toward at least a portion of thepurchase, acquisition, procurement, consumption or the like of goods,services and/or experiences.

In some embodiments, facilitating point-of-sale functionality mayinclude redeeming one or more promotions. A promotion may be redeemed inconnection with a purchase or separately. The one or more promotions mayinclude in-shop, outside-of-shop, and/or other promotion (e.g., providedto consumer device without communication beacon detection, such as vianetwork 104). In some embodiments, a listing of redeemable promotionsmay be provided to the merchant device. With reference to consumerprofile 1100 shown in FIG. 11, for example, redeem button 1112 may beprovided with redeemable promotion indicator 1110 to provide for“seamless promotion redemption” (e.g., without requiring the consumer toprovide an instrument or the like). Alternatively or additionally, theredemption may be performed via an instrument. The instrument mayinclude a barcode, identifier, or the like, that may be provided to themerchant via the consumer device, and then to the server to process theredemption. In another example, the consumer device may provide aninstruction or redemption instruction to the server and/or merchantdevice, which may alert the server that the promotion is being redeemed.

At 916, the communication beacon may be configured to wirelessly pollthe consumer device to determine whether the direct wireless connectionhas ended. For example and with reference to FIG. 200, one or morecommunication beacons 116, 204, 206, etc. may be configured towirelessly poll consumer device 106 to determine whether consumer device106 is at or near merchant shop 202. When consumer device 106 leavescommunicable range of wireless PAN 208 (e.g., when consumer carryingconsumer device 106 leaves merchant shop 202), communication beacon 116may be configured to provide an indication to the server and/or merchantdevice 114.

At 918, the server may be configured to provide a consumer reviewinterface to the consumer device subsequent to determining that thedirect wireless connection has ended. For example, the server mayreceive the indication that the wireless direct connection has endedfrom the communication beacon and/or consumer device. This may indicatethat the consumer and merchant interaction has been completed. Inresponse, server may be configured to provide a consumer reviewinterface to the consumer device.

The consumer review interface may be tailored to a particular merchant.For a restaurant merchant, for example, the consumer review interfacemay allow the consumer to provide a rating and/or review for one or moreitems and/or the restaurant experience in general. In some embodiments,the server may be configured to determine the item ordered by theconsumer and to provide an applicable review or survey to the consumerdevice. The consumer device may be configured to generate review databased on consumer entry via the consumer review interface.

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to receive the reviewdata from the consumer device provided via the consumer reviewinterface. Where the review data is associated with an item, the servermay be further configured to generate a rating value for the item basedat least in part on the review data. In some embodiments, review datafrom a plurality of consumers may be processed to generate a (e.g.,aggregated and/or average) rating value. In some embodiments, the servermay be configured to generate merchant information based on the reviewdata and/or rating value. The server may be further configured toprovide the merchant information to consumer devices including therating value. For example, the merchant information may be provided tothe merchant webpage, menus, impressions, among other things. Method 900may then proceed to 920 and end.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a method 1200 of redeeming a promotion inaccordance with some embodiments. Method 1200 may be performed toprovide seamless redemption of one or more redeemable promotions of amerchant by a consumer.

Method 1200 may begin at 1202 and proceed to 1204, where a server (e.g.,server 110 of system 102 shown in FIG. 1) may be configured to receiveconsumer presence data from a communication beacon indicating that theconsumer device and the communication beacon has formed a directwireless connection. The discussion at 708 of method 700 may beapplicable at 1202. In some embodiments, method 1200 may be performed inaddition or alternative to method 700, as well as one or more of theother methods discussed herein. As discussed above, the consumerpresence data may indicate that the consumer carrying the consumerdevice is at, near, outside, and/or inside the merchant shop.Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, the location of theconsumer may be determined based on receiving consumer location data orpresence data from the consumer device. For example, any suitabletechnique may be used including one or more of cell tower triangulation,internet protocol (IP) address geolocation, global positioning systems(GPS), among other things. Here, the server may be configured todetermine the location of the consumer device and compare the locationwith known locations of one or more communication beacons, merchantdevices, and/or merchant shop locations. In that sense, the server maybe configured to determine the consumer and associated consumer deviceas being at or near a particular merchant.

At 1206, the server may be configured to determine a redeemablepromotion of the consumer associated with the consumer device. In someembodiments, the determination may be performed in response to receivingthe consumer presence data at 1204. The redeemable promotion may be anin-shop promotion, an out-of-shop promotion, and/or a promotion providedto the consumer device via any type of impression. For example,impressions indicating one or more promotions may be provided to theconsumer device on a scheduled basis, in response to receiving a requestfrom the consumer device, based on instructions from a merchant device,among other things.

As discussed above at 714 of method 700, for example, the server may beconfigured to determine consumer data including redeemable promotions ofthe consumer and such consumer data may be associated with a consumeraccount. In some embodiments, the consumer may be allowed to providelogin data and/or other consumer account identification (e.g., username)and/or authentication data (e.g., password, one or more biometricidentifiers, etc.) for accessing the consumer account via a consumerdevice. The server may then be configured to, in response to receivingthe login data from the consumer device, associate the consumer accountwith the consumer device and determine the consumer data associated withthe consumer account.

At 1208, the server may be configured to provide an indication of theredeemable promotion to the consumer device. The indication may includea display of one or more redeemable promotions that the consumer mayredeem at the merchant. As such, in response to receiving the consumerpresence data, such as when the consumer is outside of the merchantshop, and/or inside of the merchant shop, the consumer may receive anotification of the redeemable promotion which will remind the consumerof the redeemable promotion and further incentivize the consumer toenter the merchant shop. For example, as the consumer is carrying theconsumer device through a commercial area with a plurality of merchantshops that may each include one or more communication beacons, theserver may receive consumer presence data indicating that the consumeris at or near a particular merchant. In response, the server may sendthe consumer notifications of redeemable promotions associated with oneor more of the merchants as the server determines that the consumerdevice is in respective proximity to each merchant. Because the consumeris able to receive location-based redeemable promotion notifications,the consumer may be more incentivized to purchase or otherwise acceptpromotional offers having the benefit of knowing that the consumer willbe less likely to miss a convenient redemption opportunity or missredeeming the redeemable promotion altogether (e.g., when a redeemablepromotion includes an expiration date).

FIG. 13 shows an example of a redeemable promotion display 1300 inaccordance with some embodiments. Redeemable promotion display 1300 maybe an example of the indication of a redeemable promotion that may beprovided to the consumer device from the server. In some embodiments,providing the indication of the redeemable promotion may includeproviding redeemable promotion data to the consumer device thatindicates the redeemable promotion. The consumer device may then beconfigured to generate redeemable promotion display 1300 and to providedisplay 1300 to a display of the consumer device. Redeemable promotiondisplay 1300 may include merchant indicator 1302, redemption instruction1304, and notification acknowledgement button 1306.

Merchant indicator 1302 may include an indication of the merchant towhich the consumer device has been determined to be within proximity asdiscussed herein. Redemption instruction 1304 may provide an instructionto the consumer regarding how to perform the redemption. Here,redemption instruction 1304 indicates to the consumer that the consumermay redeem a redeemable promotion at the merchant by saying theconsumer's name, such as to a merchant representative (e.g., anemployee, wait staff, cashier, etc.). Conventional electronic voucherredemption techniques typically require that a consumer present avoucher, coupon, or other instrument to the merchant representative. Forexample, the consumer has been required to hand over their consumerdevice so that the merchant representative can mark a redeemablepromotion or instrument as redeemed. As discussed in greater detailbelow, however, the consumer may be allowed to seamlessly redeem one ormore promotions without presenting any instrument (e.g., electronic orotherwise). In some embodiments, redemption of the redeemable promotionmay be performed without requiring any redemption instruction form theconsumer device and/or any consumer action interaction with the consumerdevice. Rather, consumers may be allowed to walk into a merchant shopand without simply say their names to redeem the promotion and/orprovide payment for a transaction. Notification acknowledgement button1306 may be selected by the consumer to close redeemable promotiondisplay 1300, which may return the consumer to a consumer interfaceand/or to another application of the consumer device, such as a mobileoperating system home display where the consumer device is a mobiledevice. In some embodiments, redeemable promotion display 1300 may beconfigured to automatically close after a predetermined time (e.g., 5minutes) after it is displayed and/or provided to the consumer device.

In some embodiments, the indication of the redeemable promotion may beprovided to the consumer device via any suitable communication channel.For example, the indication may be an application alert of a consumerapplication configured to provide the consumer interface as shown byredeemable promotion display 1300. In some embodiments, the applicationalert may be provided based on the consumer device having the consumerapplication executing on the consumer device, such as in the backgroundand/or foreground of the consumer device operating system. As the serveris capable of pushing notifications of the redeemable promotion, theconsumer is not required to access information regarding redeemablepromotions through browsing, searching, or otherwise interacting withthe consumer interface. In some embodiments, such as when the consumerapplication is executing in the background, the consumer device may beconfigured to open and/or otherwise bring the consumer application tothe foreground of the consumer device for consumer interaction with theconsumer interface. Alternatively or additionally, the server may beconfigured to provide the indication of the redeemable promotion via atext message, an email, electronic social network feed, among otherthings. In some embodiments, the indication of the redeemable promotionmay alternatively or additionally include a non-graphical signal, suchas an auditory notification and/or a tactile notification (e.g.,vibration of the consumer device).

In some embodiments, where a consumer or consumer account is associatedwith multiple redeemable promotions, the server may be configured toprovide a promotion selection display in alternative or addition topromotion display 1300. The promotion selection display may allow theconsumer to select one or more particular promotions of the multipleredeemable promotions for redemption. In that sense, the server may beconfigured to determine whether the consumer is associated with morethan one promotion and provide an interface for promotion selection tothe consumer device. Where the consumer or consumer account isassociated with only a single redeemable promotion of the merchant, theserver may determine that only the single redeemable promotion isavailable. Here, no additional consumer input may be required forperforming the seamless redemption.

At 1210, the server may be configured to provide a merchant interfaceincluding an indication of consumer identifying data to a merchantdevice associated with the merchant. In some embodiments, the merchantinterface may include an indication of consumer identifying dataassociated with one or more (e.g., each) consumers with consumer deviceshaving direct wireless connections with the communication beacon. Theindication of consumer identifying data may be a presence display, suchas presence display 1000 including consumer indication 1008 as shown inFIG. 10. Alternatively or additionally, the indication of consumeridentifying data may be a consumer profile, such as consumer profile1100 shown in FIG. 11.

In some embodiments, the server may be configured to provide anindication of consumer identifying data associated with a plurality ofconsumers. For example, the consumer identifying data may be associatedwith a plurality of consumers with consumer devices having directwireless connections with the communication beacon. FIG. 14 shows anexample of consumer display 1400 in accordance with some embodiments.Consumer display 1400 may be provided to (e.g., by the server) orotherwise presented on the merchant device and/or merchant interface andmay include a listing, graphical display, and/or other indicator ofconsumers having a consumer device that is at or near the merchant, suchas consumer indications 1402-1410. Where a consumer has a redeemablepromotion at the merchant, the consumer indication may include a redeembutton 1412 which may be selected by the merchant to initiate redemptionof the redeemable promotion. In some embodiments, the indication ofconsumer identifying data associated with the consumer may furtherinclude a consumer image. Here, the merchant is able to further verifythe identity of the consumer based on comparing the consumer image withthe appearance of the consumer.

In some embodiments, consumer display 1400 and/or the merchant interfacemay include an ordered listing or display of consumers based onproximity to the merchant device. The communication beacon may be themerchant device or be a component of the merchant device. For example,based on received signal strength between consumer devices and one ormore communications beacons, the server and/or merchant device may beconfigured to determine a proximity value indicating a distance thateach consumer device is away from the merchant device. As such,consumers that are closer to the merchant may have their consumerinformation and/or redeemable promotions more prominently displayed oraccessible to facilitate consumer and merchant interactions. In someembodiments, the listing may be refreshed at predetermined times (e.g.,every 20 seconds) to avoid excessive switching of the consumer orderswithin the display. In some embodiments, the merchant interface and/orconsumer display 1400 may include a consumer proximity refresh buttonthat allows the merchant to trigger polling for consumer deviceslocations. Here, the ordered listing of consumers based on consumerdevice proximity to the merchant device may also be updated in responseto the merchant input.

At 1216, the server may be configured to receive a selection of consumeridentifying data associated with the consumer device. For example, theselection of consumer identifying data may be received based on themerchant selecting a consumer indication 1402-1410 of consumer display1400. In another example, the selection may be received based on themerchant selecting consumer indication 1008 in presence display 1000. Inthat sense, consumer display 1400 and/or presence display 1000 may beused to facilitate a seamless redemption and/or payment. For example,based on the consumer following redemption instructions 1304 and statingthe consumer's name to the merchant associated with the merchant device,the merchant can identify the applicable consumer identifying datawithin the merchant interface to begin a transaction with the consumer.In that sense, the merchant interface may include an indication of themessage that the consumer is instructed to provide by redemptioninstruction 1304 to match the consumer with the consumer's data and/ortransaction session. While the examples shown provide for a techniquewhere a consumer can provide payment or perform promotion redemptionbased on saying consumer name, any suitable message may also be used.For example, the message may be a phrase, token, password, passcode,and/or key, among other things. In some embodiments, the server may beconfigured to generate the message and to provide the message to boththe consumer device and the merchant device to assist in the seamlessconsumer identification for the merchant. In some embodiments, theserver may be configured to provide for redemption by name (or otherfirst type of consumer identifying data) in a default case, but in theevent that multiple consumers share the same name, may provide for anon-name-based message.

At 1218, the server may be configured to provide the indication of theredeemable promotion to the merchant interface. The server may beconfigured to provide the indication of the redeemable promotion basedon the merchant selecting a consumer indication in the merchantinterface. In another example, the server may provide the indicationwithout any action from the merchant or receiving any instruction fromthe merchant device. For example, the indication of the redeemablepromotion may be provided in response to receiving consumer presencedata from a communication beacon indicating that the consumer device at1204, and requiring no additional consumer device or merchant deviceinstruction or input. As such, the merchant may be able to perform anexpedited (e.g., 1-action) redemption, such as by selecting redeembutton 1412 within consumer indication 1402 of consumer display 1400.

At 1220, the server may be configured to receive an instruction toredeem the redeemable promotion. For example, the instruction may beprovided from the merchant device based on the merchant selecting aredeem button within the merchant interface, such as redeem button 1412and/or redeem button 1112. In another example, the instruction mayadditionally or alternatively be provided to the server from theconsumer device, such as to receive a consumer confirmation. However, insome embodiments, the server may be request or otherwise require aconsumer confirmation such that seamless redemption can be provided tothe consumer (e.g., without requiring that the consumer provides anyconsumer inputs via the consumer device) for the transaction.

At 1222, the server may be configured to facilitate redemption of theredeemable promotion in response to receiving the instruction to redeemthe redeemable promotion. For example, where the redeemable promotion isassociated with a promotional value, the server may be configured todeduct the promotional value of the redeemable promotion from a totalcost of a transaction. The server may be further configured to track theredeemable promotions and to record the redemption, such as bydisassociating the redeemable promotion with a consumer account of theconsumer. The discussion at 914 of method 900 may also be applicable at1222. For example, the server may be configured to facilitate redemptionin connection with point-of-sale functionality. Method 1200 may thenproceed to 1224 and end.

CONCLUSION

Many modifications and other embodiments will come to mind to oneskilled in the art to which these embodiments pertain having the benefitof the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and theassociated drawings. For example, some or all of the steps in the methodflows above being described as being performed by a server may beperformed by a merchant device and/or communication beacon. Therefore,it is to be understood that the embodiments of the invention are not tobe limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modificationsand other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope ofthe appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, theyare used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes oflimitation.

That which is claimed:
 1. A system, comprising: a communication beaconhaving a fixed location, wherein the communication beacon comprises ofat least a beacon processor and a beacon non-transitory memoryassociated with the beacon processor, wherein the beacon non-transitorymemory comprises a first set of instructions, when executed by thebeacon processor, cause the communication beacon to: communicate with aconsumer device via a direct wireless connection when the consumerdevice is within a wireless direct communicable range of thecommunication beacon, wherein the direct wireless connection is awireless personal area network (PAN) connection; transmit consumerpresence data, wherein the consumer presence data comprises: a beaconidentifier that identifies the communication beacon, consumer devicelocation data received from the consumer device, and signalcharacteristics of the direct wireless connection, wherein the signalcharacteristics comprise a wireless signal strength value indicating awireless signal strength between the communication beacon and theconsumer device; one or more servers, wherein the one or more serverscomprise of a least a server processor and a server non-transitorymemory associated with the server processor, wherein the servernon-transitory memory comprises a second set of instructions, whenexecuted by the server processor, cause the one or more servers to:receive the consumer presence data from the communication beacon;determine a merchant location based on the beacon identifier by usingthe beacon identifier to retrieve the fixed location of thecommunication beacon; and determine a consumer location based on atleast one of the consumer device location data received from thecommunication beacon and the wireless signal strength value receivedfrom the communication beacon; determine, based on comparing themerchant location and the consumer location, an in-shop locationindication or an outside-of-shop location indication to be associatedwith the consumer device; determine an in-shop redeemable promotion forthe consumer device associated with the in-shop location indication oran outside-of-shop redeemable promotion for the consumer deviceassociated with the outside-of-shop location indication, the in-shopredeemable promotion or the outside-of-shop redeemable promotion eachbeing redeemable at, the merchant location; and provide an in-shopredeemable promotion indication to the consumer device associated withthe in-shop location indication or an outside-of-shop redeemablepromotion indication to the consumer device associated with theoutside-of-shop location indication via the communication beacon and thedirect wireless connection, wherein the consumer device associated withthe in-shop location indication or the outside-of-shop locationindication is separate from the communication beacon.
 2. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the one or more servers are further configured to,subsequent to receiving the consumer presence data, provide anindication of a redeemable promotion to a merchant device associatedwith the merchant location.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein themerchant device includes the communication beacon.
 4. The system ofclaim 2, wherein the one or more servers are further configured toprovide a merchant interface to the merchant device, the merchantinterface including the indication of the redeemable promotion.
 5. Thesystem of claim 4, wherein the merchant interface further includes anindication of consumer identifying data that identifies a consumerassociated with the consumer device.
 6. The system of claim 5, whereinthe one or more servers are further configured to: provide to themerchant interface indications of consumer identifying data identifyingone or more consumers associated with consumer devices having directwireless connections with the communication beacon, the one or moreconsumers including the consumer; receive a selection of consumeridentifying data identifying the consumer associated with the consumerdevice; and in response to receiving the selection of the consumeridentifying data, provide the indication of the redeemable promotion tothe merchant interface.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the indicationof consumer identifying data identifying the consumer includes at leastone of a consumer name and a consumer image.
 8. The system of claim 4,wherein: the indication of the redeemable promotion includes a redeembutton; and the one or more servers are further configured to: receivean instruction to redeem the redeemable promotion from the merchantdevice based on a selection of the redeem button; and in response toreceiving the instruction to redeem the redeemable promotion, facilitateredemption, of the redeemable promotion.
 9. The system of claim 8,wherein the one or more servers configured to facilitate the redemptionof the redeemable promotion includes the one or more servers beingconfigured to facilitate the redemption without requiring a redeeminstruction from the consumer device.
 10. The system of claim 8, whereinthe one or more servers configured to facilitate the redemption of theredeemable promotion includes the one or more servers being configuredto at least one of: deduct a promotional value of the redeemablepromotion from a total cost of a transaction; and disassociate theredeemable promotion with a consumer account of the consumer.
 11. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the one or more servers are furtherconfigured to: determine a proximity value based upon the wirelesssignal strength value, wherein the proximity value indicates a proximitybetween the consumer device and a merchant device, wherein the merchantdevice is located in the merchant location and comprises a merchantinterface for facilitating transactions; and update the merchantinterface based on the proximity value.
 12. The system of claim 1,wherein: the one or more servers are configured to determine a durationof time associated with the consumer location; and determining thein-shop location indication or the outside-of-shop location indicationcomprises determining whether the duration of time exceeds a thresholdperiod of time.
 13. A machine-implemented method, comprising:associating, by circuitry associated with one or more servers, acommunication beacon with a fixed location; receiving, by the circuitry,consumer presence data from the communication beacon indicating that aconsumer device and the communication beacon has formed a directwireless connection when the consumer device is within a wireless directcommunicable range of the communication beacon, wherein the consumerpresence data includes a beacon identifier that identifies thecommunication beacon, consumer device location data received from theconsumer device, and signal characteristics of the direct wirelessconnection, wherein the signal characteristics comprise a wirelesssignal strength value indicating a wireless signal strength between thecommunication beacon and the consumer device; and in response receivingthe consumer presence data, and by the circuitry: identifying a merchantlocation based on the beacon identifier by using the beacon identifierto retrieve the fixed location of the communication beacon; determininga consumer location based on at least one of the consumer devicelocation data received from the communication beacon and the wirelesssignal strength value received from the communication beacon;determining, based on comparing the merchant location and the consumerlocation, an in-shop location indication or an outside-of-shop locationindication to be associated with the consumer device; determining anin-shop redeemable promotion for the consumer device associated with thein-shop location indication or an outside-of-shop redeemable promotionfor the consumer device associated with the outside-of-shop locationindication, the in-shop redeemable promotion or the outside-of-shopredeemable promotion each being redeemable at the merchant location; andproviding an in-shop redeemable promotion indication to the consumerdevice associated with the in-shop location indication or anoutside-of-shop redeemable promotion indication to the consumer deviceassociated with the outside-of-shop location indication via thecommunication beacon and the direct wireless connection, wherein theconsumer device associated with the in-shop location indication or theoutside-of-shop location indication is separate from the communicationbeacon.
 14. The method of claim 13 further comprising, by the circuitryand subsequent to receiving the consumer presence data, providing anindication of a redeemable promotion to a merchant device associatedwith the merchant location.
 15. The method of claim 14, wherein themerchant device includes the communication beacon.
 16. The method ofclaim 14 further comprising, by the circuitry, providing a merchantinterface to the merchant device, the merchant interface including theindication of the redeemable promotion.
 17. The method of claim 16,wherein the merchant interface further includes an indication ofconsumer identifying data that identifies a consumer associated with theconsumer device.
 18. The method of claim 17 further comprising, by thecircuitry: providing to the merchant interface indications of consumeridentifying data identifying one or more consumers associated withconsumer devices having direct wireless connections with thecommunication beacon, the one or more consumers including the consumer;receiving a selection of consumer identifying data identifying theconsumer associated with the consumer device; and in response toreceiving the selection of the consumer identifying data, providing theindication of the redeemable promotion to the merchant interface. 19.The method of claim 18, wherein the indication of consumer identifyingdata identifying the consumer includes at least one of a consumer nameand a consumer image.
 20. The method of claim 16, wherein: theindication of the redeemable promotion includes a redeem button; and themethod further includes, by the circuitry: receiving an instruction toredeem the redeemable promotion from the merchant device based on aselection of the redeem button; and in response to receiving theinstruction to redeem the redeemable promotion, facilitating redemptionof the redeemable promotion.
 21. The method of claim 20, whereinfacilitating the redemption of the redeemable promotion includesfacilitating the redemption without requiring a redeem instruction fromthe consumer device.
 22. The method of claim 20, wherein facilitatingthe redemption of the redeemable promotion includes at least one of:deducting a promotional value of the redeemable promotion from a totalcost of a transaction; and disassociating the redeemable promotion witha consumer account of the consumer.
 23. A computer program productcomprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium andcomputer program instructions stored therein, the computer programinstructions comprising program instructions for: associating, bycircuitry associated with one or more servers, a communication beaconwith a fixed location; receiving, by the circuitry, consumer presencedata from the communication beacon indicating that a consumer device andthe communication beacon has formed a direct wireless connection whenthe consumer device is within a wireless direct communicable range ofthe communication beacon, wherein the consumer presence data includes abeacon identifier that identifies the communication beacon, consumerdevice location data received from the consumer device, and signalcharacteristics of the direct wireless connection, wherein the signalcharacteristics comprise a wireless signal strength value indicating awireless signal strength between the communication beacon and theconsumer device; and in response receiving the consumer presence data,and by the circuitry: identifying, a merchant location based on thebeacon identifier by using the beacon identifier to retrieve the fixedlocation of the communication beacon; determining a consumer locationbased on at least one of the consumer device location data received fromthe communication beacon and the wireless signal strength value receivedfrom the communication beacon; determining, based on comparing themerchant location and the consumer location, an in-shop locationindication or an outside-of-shop location indication to be associatedwith the consumer device; determining an in-shop redeemable promotionfor the consumer device associated with the in-shop location indicationor an outside-of-shop redeemable promotion for the consumer deviceassociated, with the outside-of-shop location indication, the in-shopredeemable promotion or the outside-of-shop redeemable promotion eachbeing redeemable at the merchant location; and providing an in-shopredeemable promotion indication to the consumer device associated withthe in-shop location indication or an outside-of-shop redeemablepromotion indication to the consumer device associated with theoutside-of-shop location indication via the communication beacon and thedirect wireless connection, wherein the consumer device associated withthe in-shop location indication or the outside-of-shop locationindication is separate from the communication beacon.